Three in 10 pieces of children's jewelry tested by Health Canada for cadmium in the past year were made of as much as 93 per cent of the highly toxic metal, internal government test results show. The Health Canada records, released exclusively to Postmedia News under access-to-information legislation, show 28 of 91 samples tested since last fall contained cadmium levels greater than Health Canada's established limit of 107 mg/kg. Cadmium is used as a substitute for lead in cheap imported jewelry.None of the tested pieces were recalled for their elevated cadmium levels because, unlike lead, which is banned in children's jewelry in Canada at levels exceeding 600 mg/kg or 0.06 per cent of the total weight, there is no set limit for cadmium in kids' jewelry.

Some of the items may have been recalled because they also contained lead levels in excess of 0.06 per cent, but Health Canada was not immediately available to comment on this.

It is unknown how many of the toxic pieces remain in stores and homes. Cadmium, considered more harmful than lead if ingested through the sucking or swallowing of a jewelry piece, is a known carcinogen. The soft, whitish metal, which occurs naturally in the soil and is used in nickel-cadmium batteries, can also wreck havoc on the kidneys.

Of the 28 pieces with elevated levels of cadmium, Health Canada found that three of the pieces - moulded into cupcakes, ladybugs and foot pendants - were made of almost pure cadmium, ranging from 84 to 93 per cent cadmium.

Three other pieces were comprised of about a quarter cadmium, including smiley face and ballerina pendants made with 23 and 28 per cent cadmium.

The remaining pieces ranged from 0.011 per cent cadmium to 13 per cent cadmium.

The release of the test results come ahead of an announcement Tuesday by Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq about cadmium in children's jewelry.

The summary released alongside the internal test results states that the cadmium tests were carried out to guide Health Canada for possible regulations to ban its use in children's jewelry.

The U.S. Congress earlier this year proposed a bill that would consider any piece of children's jewelry containing cadmium a banned hazardous substance. Legislators drafted the bill after independent tests conducted by Jeffrey Weidenhamer, professor of chemistry at Ashland University in Ohio, showed multiple pieces of children's jewelry sold in the past year at major retailers in the U.S. contained cadmium, including some very high levels of the metal.

In an interview Sunday, Weidenhamer said Health Canada's test results don't surprise him - given the restrictive standards for lead in children's jewelry in North America and the low cost of cadmium for Chinese manufacturers.

"The price of cadmium had gone down because of declining demand for nickel-cadmium batteries, which is where most of that was used, so the price pressures on the products, when the price of cadmium went down, it was an easy substitute because there were no regulations. So I think it was something people in this side were not looking for. It happened for economic reasons and now needs to be addressed," said Weidenhamer.

Health Canada also conducted leaching tests on the samples that contained cadmium levels greater than 107 mg/kg for migratable cadmium. The department found three of the items leached cadmium at levels above the safety threshold established by British toy safety standards, set at 75 mg/kg.

Two of the three items were made of almost pure lead, but the third one was a "K" charm made of 2.6 per cent cadmium.

Weidenhamer said his tests showed the same variability on the leaching test.

"It doesn't surprise me to see levels as high as this, and in the leaching tests that we've done we also get quite variable responses and not directly tied to the level of cadmium," said Weidenhamer, who added the leaching test results should be analyzed with caution.

"The question is, if children are wearing the jewelry item, they do get worn, the outer coating does get worn down, and in that case, are these leachability levels going to be the same over time?"

In January, following a number of these tests, Health Canada issued a general consumer-safety advisory telling consumers of the hazards of cadmium in children's jewelry without specifying brands or specific pieces.

Cadmium then made headlines in June, when McDonald's announced the voluntary recall of 1.4 million Shrek-themed promotional drinking glasses in Canada and 12 million glasses in the United States.

Tests conducted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found cadmium in the cartoon designs on the glasses at levels "slightly over the commission's highly protective level currently being developed." The commission declined to say what the proposed level under development is.