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Paywall free link: https://archive.ph/6YIDb

Sellers on Amazon and TikTok Shop have sold jewellery containing illegal amounts of a cancer-causing metal, an investigation by The Sunday Times has found. Items have been sold on the marketplaces containing large amounts of cadmium, a toxic heavy metal that is carcinogenic. The legal limit for this element in the UK is 0.01 per cent in any piece of jewellery. One £2.99 ring bought on Amazon that was advertised as 925 silver contained more than 9,000 times the maximum allowance and was estimated to be made of 92.3 per cent cadmium.

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[-] AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.com 40 points 2 weeks ago

Stop buying from Amazon. They're barely only a step above Temu

[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 38 points 2 weeks ago

Jayne Bond, a consultant in the jewellery industry, ordered a £2.99 ring on Amazon marked “925 silver”, sold by a brand called The Construction People. Independent testing of the ring showed that it was made up of approximately 92.3 per cent cadmium.

Bond claimed Amazon was notified of this on May 12 but the item remained on sale. Bond re-purchased the item weeks later on July 1 with similar results in its cadmium content. One reviewer on the site said the ring gave them a “severe allergic reaction” that needed medical treatment. The ring has now been removed from Amazon’s UK site.

An online customer review for a ring, stating it was falsely advertised as sterling silver and caused an allergic reaction. “If people are reporting the problems, why are [Amazon] not looking at their own reviews that these things are damaging people? It’s neglect,” Bond said.

Don't buy things from Amazon. They'd rather kill their customers than miss a dollar.

[-] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 35 points 2 weeks ago

Good job on purifying it to those levels

But fuck me that is some toxic shit and where I live we have a high background level because of prolonged dairy farming and the use of superphosphate

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

Containing cadmium is bad enough. But "made off" is a new level of evil.

[-] Abyssian@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

Amazon and Etsy don't check what people are selling. There are people selling resin poured into a mold and colored to look like super rare crystals for anywhere from $50 to $10k+

[-] WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

Buying on Amazon is basically the same as buying from a sketchy street-corner seller, except without the benefit to the local economy.

[-] BC_viper@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

I assume everything made of silver isnt actually silver.

[-] thisbenzingring@lemmy.today 9 points 2 weeks ago

Frightening

[-] blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 weeks ago

If you think you're getting a sterling silver ring for three quid then there's something wrong with you

[-] iocase@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Cadmium poisoning affecting their brain from all their other £3 jewelry

[-] graycube@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Isn't cadmium flammable? That might be a quick test. Just don't breath the fumes or come in contact with the fumes.

[-] Glowstick@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

A very cursory websearch seems to say it's generally only flammable when in powdered form

[-] turtlesareneat@piefed.ca 14 points 2 weeks ago

How the hell am I supposed to crush up this bracelet

[-] MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 12 points 2 weeks ago

You got teeth, don't ya?

[-] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 weeks ago

Buys ring

Sets it on fire

?????

Success.

[-] P1nkman@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

I'm sorry, what? Living in Denmark makes it very easy to not use Amazon, and I haven't used them in a decade, but this? Holy shit, that's bad. The future is looking bleaker and bleaker. I'm glad I don't have children!

[-] altphoto@lemmy.today 2 points 2 weeks ago

Now we know where to get cadmium from.

[-] njordomir@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

You're a few chemical reactions away from manufacturing your own solar panels!

[-] altphoto@lemmy.today 1 points 2 weeks ago

Or rechargeable batteries.

this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2026
287 points (99.3% liked)

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