MILLVILLE, N.J. — A recall of 12 million cadmium-tainted “Shrek” drinking glasses sold by McDonald’s raises questions about the safety of millions of similar cheap promotional products that have been sitting in Americans’ kitchen cabinets for years.
Only glasses produced for the latest “Shrek” movie are included in the voluntary recall announced Friday by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, but they were made by a company McDonald’s has worked with for 15 years. And many other companies make similar glassware with cartoon characters or other designs baked in.
“It could have been any glass company,” said Ron Biagi, an executive with Arc International, which made the glasses. “We all do the same thing using materials from the same suppliers.”
McDonald’s said the U.S.-made glasses met federal guidelines for cadmium under testing conducted by a CPSC-approved lab. CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson, however, said the glasses fall short of standards for the toxic metal that the agency is in the process of developing.
