Last month, McDonald's was forced to issue a recall throughout the United States and Canada for over 13 million drinking glasses promoting the new Shrek Forever After film. Why? The designs painted on the glasses contain higher than acceptable levels of cadmium, a heavy metal found in batteries and a well known carcinogen.
I always find these recalls interesting. Since January 2010, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled over a million cribs because of the risk of strangulation or suffocation to the young children who sleep in them.
It is critical that these cribs and glasses be recalled because they pose such a deadly public health threat to the nation’s youth. And yet the deadliest product of all – tobacco – remains on the market while simultaneously causing the death of over 400,000 Americans every year.
Just last week, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new study whose findings revealed that cigarettes in the US have more cancer-causing toxins than those manufactured in Australia, Canada and the UK. The study revealed that US-made cigarettes contain higher levels of nitrosamines compared to cigarettes from the other countries. Other chemicals found in all cigarettes include arsenic, cadmium and ammonia.
This double standard as it relates to tobacco products is appalling. I hope no children are harmed by the Shrek glasses, but I also think it is a teachable moment to remind Americans what we’re willing to tolerate when it comes to smoking. Social norms may have shifted, the US Food and Drug Administration may now be able to regulate tobacco, but it will never be safe.
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