JEWELLERY branded as sterling silver on popular shopping sites has been found to contain toxic chemicals.
A number of items were found to contain amounts of a substance known to cause , despite claiming to be made of the precious metal.
As part of a BBC Watchdog investigation , 25 jewellery pieces, bought from affordable online market places, were examined to see what they were made of.
Experts investigated supposed sterling silver items from the likes of , eBay, Temu, OnBuy and Etsy .
The analysis found that only two of the 25 items examined could be classed as true sterling silver.
Meanwhile, eight were found to contain illegal levels of toxic metal, cadmium, which is officially classed as a carcinogen and is largely associated with lung cancer.
Others contained high percentages of nickel, a metal known to cause skin irritation and allergic reactions.
There are strict limits on how much cadmium can be used in jewellery.
The tests run by Sheffield Assay Office on the 25 affordable jewellery pieces found that eight contained amounts over the legal limit of 0.01 per cent.
Some items were found to contain up to 10 per cent cadmium, a level described as “absolutely massive” by analysis leader, Sophie Langley.
Speaking to the BBC, Rob Chilcott, a retired professor of toxicology, explained that inhaling or ingesting traces of the chemical can pose a real risk.
“If you put something containing cadmium in your mouth, or indeed if you swallow it, that is really bad news,” he said.
Following the Watchdog investigation, Amazon, eBay, Temu and OnBuy confirmed that fake sterling silver jewellery listings are prohibited on the sites.
The retailers also removed the identified jewellery items from sale, while Amazon and OnBuy issued recalls and offered refunds for items found to be unsafe by the BBC.
Temu confirmed that it was running similar testing regimes to identify more unsafe items and eBay confirmed that customers concerned about jewellery purchased can reach out for support.
