Ohio Citizen Action also asked the Boy Scouts of America to recall the Eagle Scout ring and any other jewelry made with beryllium. It should not be used to manufacture jewelry,'' said Amy Ryder, director of Ohio Citizen Action's Cleveland office.
Beryllium is a lightweight metal used in the defense, automotive and electronics industries.
Ryder said beryllium is not dangerous in a solid form but can cause incurable lung disease for people who work with the metal when it is mined, processed or converted into metal alloys. Boy Scouts of America, based in Irving, Texas, was not aware of any health concerns about the rings until Tuesday, spokesman Gregg Shields said. He said the supplier of the rings informed the group recently that it was changing the makeup of its Eagle Scout academy-style rings, but he did not know if the rings would still contain the metal. He also did not know the name of the supplier. Cleveland-based Brush Wellman Inc. is one of the world's largest producers of beryllium products and manufactures the metal at several of its U.S. plants.