Yes. This is an example of our litigious society having just as foolish results as a European nanny-state. I despise McDonalds and they can afford the few millions of dollars; but, it really shouldn't have happened. Paint on a glass is not supposed to be edible. Cadmium is dangerous in industries but its not so dangerous as to be generally banned. Kids play with toys charged by nickel-cadmium batteries. Cadmium is found in artist's paints, just not in the edible ones sold to small children. The odds of anyone getting cadmium poisoning just by handling a glass decorated with paint including cadmium (generally yellows and oranges) is ridiculously low. And the glasses, in this case, would probably only be used a short time and then put aside for collectors or broken by accident.

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"McDonald's said it was asking customers to stop using the glasses "out of an abundance of caution."

"We believe the Shrek glassware is safe for consumer use," Whitman said. "However, again to ensure that our customers receive safe products from us, we made the decision to stop selling them and voluntarily recall these products effective immediately."

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I have to say that I am not angered at all by the recall. I am angered by the fact that the glasses were not tested in the first place. With all of the pressures to make sure that chemicals and dangerous metals stay out of our systems (especially when dealing with kids), McDonalds should have tested them in the first place.

I live in Michigan. State law states that if I were to sell a children's toy at a garage sale, I might have to prove that it does not have high levels of anything that could do damage to someone. Granted, people still sell toys and such at garage sales without testing, but there is a strong chance that this law will be enforced one day in the future.

If I am a private person that is supposed to test for dangers, why aren't companies held more responsible? I have worked around the auto industry for a long time as a political advisor. Most automotive plants around Detroit will do random testing of just about anything that comes into the plants. It does not matter if it is a part, or a uniform t-shirt. The auto companies appear to have a standard that is overlooked by McDonalds.

As a political advisor, I hope that this sends some kind of pressure to Washington to hold companies liable for testing on toys, and souveneirs that will make their way into the hands of children. While I usually am against strong regulation, when the safety and wellbeing of children is involved, regulation needs to happen.

I would have to agree with lvincentpoupard when he says he is not angered by the recall, but really i dont think this says much about McDonalds standards of safety. Im not discrediting lvincentpoupard or defending McDonalds, but you have to realize, shrek glasses are produced at a much higher quanity and a much more temporary market status than automobiles. The potential harm of a car, or really any aspect of the automobile industry, is much greater than a shrek glass.

Even though i understand that this is marketed towards children and it is always a soft spot amoung the general public, i think its good that the auto industries safety standards are higher than happy meal safety standards. While it would be terrible if your child became ill or even died from cadmium intake, wouldnt it be worse if your brakes went out on the way to or from micky D's?

In the long run, i dont think this will be anything but a tiny blip on the radar. It seems like everytime i go to a customer service desk is see products marketed towards children by major corporations that are being recalled. No one seems to be nearly as upset if Graco makes a stroller that gets recalled.

Products are always going to be recalled, really there should be more attention paid to the non posions chemicals in the food. There are still harmful products being sold to your children through happy meals and no one seems to be very concerned, i suppose its not that great of a news story though.

I'm not angered at all. I've got a few hundred sets of these and they'll fetch a very nice price on ebay in a few years!