Feds say glasses with lead are kids’ products

On Monday, commission staff declared that sets of drinking glasses depicting comic book and movie characters were indeed children’s products, undercutting the position of the importer of the glasses, which said they were marketed to adults.

That decision meant the glasses — which featured images of superheroes including Superman and Wonder Woman, and characters from “The Wizard of Oz” such as Dorothy and the Tin Man — couldn’t have more than 0.03 percent lead. Lab testing commissioned by The Associated Press showed they contained up to 1,000 times that limit in their colored designs.

If they were not children’s products, there would be no limit.

As it turns out, they are. Even as the company that imported the glasses insisted they were adult collectibles, it announced it would voluntarily recall them. Vandor LLC of Utah said it would work with the CPSC to remove from circulation the approximately 72,000 glasses already sold.

The agency, meanwhile, was collecting samples of other glasses that may be deemed children’s products cited in an ongoing Associated Press investigation into dangerous metals in children’s merchandise. The agency’s own inquiry would extend beyond the superhero and Oz glasses to include others cited by AP “that have decorations that children would be attracted to,” said spokesman Scott Wolfson.

In all, about 160,000 glasses have been recalled by two companies since the AP disclosed Sunday that its laboratory tests showed colored designs in a range of glasses contain high levels of lead or were made in such a way that lead or cadmium could escape and contaminate the hands of someone handling them.

Federal regulators have worried that toxic metals rubbing onto children’s hands can get into their mouths.

The concern is long-term, not immediate. While the superhero and Oz glasses had high levels of lead in their designs, they did not release enough to hurt anyone. The issue is whether the glasses, made in China and purchased at the Warner Bros. Studios store in Burbank, Calif., comply with federal limits on lead in children’s products.

Soon after agency spokesman Wolfson said Monday that the CPSC considers the glasses children’s products, Warner Bros. said it would stop selling them. Then Vandor said it would pull them from the broader market.

Both Vandor and Warner Bros. said in separate statements that their decisions were made in “an abundance of caution.” Vandor said the “themed glassware falls within legal limits for lead and cadmium content,” according to its own tests.

Last week, while commenting on AP’s test results, Warner Bros. said, “It is generally understood that the primary consumer for these products is an adult, usually a collector.” On the entertainment giant’s website, however, the superhero glasses were sold alongside a lunch box and children’s T-shirts with superhero images. By late Tuesday, the glasses were no longer available.