McDonald’s in Canada recalls ‘Shrek’ glasses, following massive U.S. recall

OTTAWA – The massive McDonald’s recall of Shrek glasses for containing cadmium in the painted design is just the beginning of an expected onslaught of problems for some distributors of children’s products because the highly toxic metal is increasingly being used instead of lead, industry insiders say.

McDonald’s Canada on Friday announced the voluntarily recall of 1.4 million Shrek-themed drinking glasses following the recall on Thursday of 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," according to a spokeswoman.

This comes on the heels of CPSC tests on children’s jewelry earlier this year that resulted in three high-profile recalls in the U.S. involving items with high levels of cadmium sold at Walmart and Claire’s.

Cadmium is a carcinogenic at high levels and can have adverse health effects at low levels of exposure if the metal is ingested by children. In this instance, the risk of potential long-term exposure to low levels involve mouthing the painted design or the leaching from the paint onto a children’s hand, then into the body if the child puts the unwashed hand into their mouth.

In separate statements, McDonald’s USA and McDonald’s Canada told consumers to immediately stop using the glasses, but emphasized the four glasses, sold for $2 as part of a promotional campaign for the movie Shrek Forever After were evaluated by an independent third-party laboratory and "determined to be fully in compliance with all applicable (U.S. and Canadian) requirements at the time of manufacture and distribution."

The month-long promotional campaign was scheduled to end on June 7.

But in light of the CPSC’s "evolving assessment of standards for cadmium in consumer products, McDonald’s determined, in an abundance of caution, that a voluntary recall of the Shrek Forever After glasses is appropriate."

Without any regulations in the United States or Canada that sets limits for cadmium in children’s jewelry or children’s products, the fear is cadmium has become the go-to metal for some overseas manufacturers, and regulators are only now playing catch up.

"Here’s the real problem that Health Canada is missing. What’s happened is people are taking lead out of their product and lead is being substituted in the casting industry by cadmium. Go check out cadmium, which is much, much much more lethal than lead," said George Stern of Frabels Inc., a Montreal-based company that imports beads and components for jewelry.

"You know, one of our suppliers wanted to do it and we stopped buying from them. That would be ridiculous. The government has to catch up with cadmium, which is much more dangerous than lead will ever be," said Stern.

Health Canada has conducted regular tests on children’s jewelry for the past decade looking for items with lead in excessive of the limit, currently set at 0.06 per cent lead.

Testing for cadmium, however, was not part of the program until this year, part of an ongoing investigation "into the extent of the issue," Health Canada said Friday."

But the department indicated new regulations could take time because Health Canada is at the "information gathering stage."

Paul Midler, author of Poorly Made in China: An Insider’s Account of the Tactics Behind China’s Production Game and currently based in Hong Kong, said it makes sense some Chinese manufacturers started using cadmium in place of lead following the massive 2007 recall of Chinese-made toys by Mattel Inc.

The high-profile recall involved 83 products covered in lead paint.

"The perfect example of that is after three years of all these quality problems related to lead, we all of a sudden have cadmium and everybody’s like: `Why weren’t they looking for cadmium. Well, nobody knew to test for cadmium," Midler said in an interview about jewelry manufactured in China.

Jeffrey Weidenhamer, professor of chemistry at Ashland University in Ohio, tested multiple pieces of children’s jewelry items for cadmium levels in the past year, and found some with very high levels.

In an interview, he said the use of cadmium generated from nickel-cadmium batteries makes sense, given "the restrictions on lead now."

The collectible glasses are available in four designs depicting the characters Shrek, Princess Fiona, Puss in Boots and Donkey. The film opened in theatres in the U.S and Canada on May 21.

The company said customers can call 1-877-495-5502 or visit http://www.mcdonalds.ca for information on how to return the glasses and get a refund.