If you go to get any part of your body pierced in California, the jewelry used now cannot contain any lead. Gale Filter is with the California Department of Toxic Substance Control, which enforces the law. “The materials that are used for new piercing cannot contain any lead, so that’s the actual part of the piercing that penetrates the skin or the mucous membrane.” Filter says in addition, the amount of lead allowed in all other adult jewelry is now limited. Plated jewelry can’t be more than 10 percent lead – and non-plated metal jewelry can’t be more than one-and-a-half percent lead. That will get even stricter next August. He says lead has been linked to health issues ranging from behavioral problems to organ failure. Filter says the department is now inspecting jewelry sold in stores statewide. Last September, the law limited lead used in children’s jewelry. Late last year, Filter says they conducted a similar inspection of children’s jewelry. He says of 162 stores, 33 had products with lead amounts over the legal limit.