Theme drinking glasses sporting popular characters—Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Tin Man—have been found, said the Associated Press (AP), to exceed federal limits for <"https://www.yourlawyer.com/practice_areas/toxic_substances">lead in children’s products by a whopping 1,000 times, citing testing commissioned by the news outlet.
The decorative enamel on the sets, which were manufactured in China and purchased at a Warner Brothers Studios store in Burbank, California, were found to contain between 16 and 30.2 percent lead, significantly over the federal limit on children’s products of 0.03 percent, said the AP. Those glasses also contained significant levels of cadmium, considered an even more dangerous toxic metal, but a metal for which there are no federal limits in so-called design surfaces, noted the AP.
Earlier this year, 12 million promotional drinking glasses were recalled over issues with cadmium in the paint on a fast-food chain’s glasses. Cadmium, a known carcinogen, can interfere with brain development in very young children. On the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) priority list of 275 most hazardous substances in the environment, cadmium ranks No. 7.
The AP noted that the federal government has been concerned about toxic metals rubbing onto the hands of children, which could be ingested by children who then put their hands in their mouths. Some glasses involved bear the brands for Coca-Cola, Walt Disney, Burger King, and McDonald’s wrote the AP.
The testing was part of the AP’s continuing probe into toxic metals in children’s products, followed the massive McDonald’s recall, and was conducted by ToyTestingLab of Rhode Island, said the AP. Testing revealed that enamel that colored the Tin Man had the highest lead levels—1,006 times the federal limit allowed for children’s products, said the AP. All Oz and superhero glasses tested also exceeded the government limit from 533 times to 827 times, wrote the AP.
Federal regulators must determine if the glasses are considered children’s products subject to strict lead limits; however, if the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) determines that the glasses do not fall into this standard, then the lead levels will be considered legal, said the AP.
As regulations regarding lead have strengthened, cadmium has been showing up in a wide variety of children’s products, specifically children’s jewelry items this year. The longer-term effects of cadmium and lead might not always be immediately evident.
Meanwhile, RTT News, reported that Coca-Cola Co. announced a voluntary recall of 22,000 sets of its themed drinking glasses. “The Coca-Cola Company has an unwavering commitment to quality, and at times we may withdraw products from the market for quality reasons, even if there is no safety concern or legal requirement to do so. We apologize to our consumers for the inconvenience,” the company said quoted RTT News.
The recalled glasses, rendered to look like a can of Coca-Cola, were sold as a pack of four that represents a can of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, or Sprite, said RTT News. The glasses were distributed in the U.S. since March 2010 and sold in retails stores and online at Coca-Cola retail stores, coca-colastore.com, and other locations. The firm asks consumer in possession of the glasses to return them for a refund
Help filing claims and other legal assistance for the victims of cadmium or lead exposure is available at <"https://www.yourlawyer.com/practice_areas/toxic_substances">www.yourlawyer.com.
