"Shrek"-themed glasses distributed in McDonald's Happy Meals are displayed at Cindy Matta's home, Friday, June 4, 2010, in West Hollywood, Calif. (AP Photo/Adam Lau)Adam Lau/The Associated Press
The 12 million Shrek glasses pulled by McDonald's last spring amid federal concerns about cadmium did not have unsafe levels of the toxic metal, judging by revised intake limits regulators unveiled Tuesday.
Staff at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which has been scrambling to deal with risks posed by cadmium since high levels were found in some children's jewellery, also said they won't insist on mandatory limits for an element that can damage kidneys and bones.
Instead, the agency will defer to the private-sector standards group ASTM International, which has been drafting voluntary limits for several months and is expected to announce them in 2011.
Tuesday's long-awaited guidance from commission staff suggests an "acceptable daily intake" of cadmium that is more than triple what it had previously considered the maximum safe level: It's now 0.1 micrograms per day for every kilogram of a kid's body weight, up from .03 micrograms per kilogram per day.
Also on Tuesday, Health Canada announced it is asking industry to voluntarily end the production, import and sale of children's jewellery containing cadmium. Health Canada will monitor compliance and work with other countries and international agencies to determine if there is any safe level for cadmium in children's jewellery.
The U.S. announcement represents a shift for an agency that reacted aggressively to news reports that some Chinese jewellery manufacturers were substituting high levels of cadmium for lead, which recent federal law effectively banned. Chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum advised parents to get rid of all cheap metal trinkets.
Within weeks, the CPSC announced its first-ever recall of jewellery due to cadmium, this one involving Disney-branded items sold at Wal-Mart.
Four more recalls followed, implicating nearly 300,000 pieces of jewellery; the agency also leaned on McDonald's to pull the Shrek movie-themed drinking glasses.
There have been no reports of children with health complications from cadmium in the United States due to jewellery.
The .1 microgram per day per kilo of body weight is in line with recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the threshold below which no health effects are expected, provided the exposure lasts less than one year.
Cadmium accumulates and remains in the body for years, and at high levels can cause kidneys to leak vital protein and bones to soften so much they snap. People absorb trace amounts just by eating leafy greens or smoking cigarettes; the most likely scenario with jewellery is that children would increase the burden on their bodies if they bite or suck on pendants or bracelets, which easily shed the toxic metal.
Cadmium exposure is of particular concern for children. Growing bodies readily absorb what they ingest, and several studies have concluded that as exposure increases, kids are more likely to have learning disabilities.
The CPSC guidance is aimed at children's jewellery rather than glassware, but under it, the CPSC would not have considered any of the four Shrek glasses unsafe, according to Jay Howell, director of the agency's office of hazard identification and reduction.
Nancy Cowles, a consumer advocate who sits on the ASTM International committee and is executive director of a Chicago-based group called Kids In Danger, said a mandatory standard will ultimately be needed because she doubts all manufacturers will police themselves.
Associated Press