well Jack -I mean Deve- as it happens cad plating is not "against the law", the regulations have just been tightened, [
30 years ago], and again
20 years ago, and cadmium has been banned from some products, in the EU and US, including recently, NASA projects - cad plating is
still available from operations that make the effort to deal with the pollution prevention required - cad plated hardware can still be purchased if you look for it
Bill