Kids and dogs share a lot of the same traits and neither has much, if any, common sense. I guess that is why Congress feels compelled to pass law after law after law after law in an effort to protect little Johnnie from everything from hot soup to airplane peanuts.
Most of these laws and regulations make sense. Strapping junior in to a car seat not only could save his life in a fender bender but it will also keep your target stationary when you have to turn around and pop him one for refusing to stop signing "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" at the top of his lungs. V-chips on all televisions keep little eyes from seeing errant boobage on late night Cinemax and also let's me block the Oxygen channel so I don't see the Burning Bed three times a month.
Of course no good deed goes unpunished and coming to a head soon are two decisions made with the best of intentions by people with IQs similar to the weight of your average 6-8 year old. Thankfully they juxtapose very nicely.
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, enacted August 14 of last year, was set to go into effect and ban all products designed for children ages 12 or under which contain lead over specified limits. Regulations are outlined under Title I of the Act and sets the lead limit at “600 parts per million total lead content by weight for any part of the product.” That limit will drop to 300 ppm one year after the date of enactment and 100 ppm three years after unless deemed technologically unfeasible.
That sounds good in theory until you ask your local All Terrain Vehicle salesman. You see, children's ATVs contain lead and are thus banned under this new law. The ban is estimated to cost the industry over $100 million and will force dad's all across the country to share their rides with the kids greatly cutting in to their precious weekend riding time. Of course there is nothing to stop a child under twelve from trying to eat Dad's (or mom's) lead filled ride so I don't see the protection working as planned. In a moment of clarity of thought, the Consumer Product Safety Commission voted on April 3 to grant a one-year stay of enforcement on the lead ban. But it is still coming.
If you've read this blog for any length of time you are aware that in a few years, those bright incandescent bulbs that permit you to push back the night and function after dark will be replaced with CFLs, those less bright planet savings pieces of crap. CFLs happen to contain Mercury, a neurotoxin and they pose a health hazard when broken. So much of a hazard that the there is a warning on the back of packages and the Maine Bureau of Remediation & Waste Management gives the following advice if a fluorescent bulb breaks in the home:
1. Never use a vacuum to clean up the breakage because it may spread mercury dust in the air.
2. Keep people and pets away from the scene of the break.
3. Ventilate the area.
4. If possible, reduce the temperature of the room.
5. Wear protective equipment such as rubber gloves, safety glasses, a duck mask and old clothing.
6. Remove large pieces and place is secure, closed or airtight plastic bag.
7. Collect smaller pieces and dust using a disposable dustpan and broom.
8. Put all material into an airtight plastic bag. Pat the breakage area with the sticky side of something like duct tape. Wipe the area with a damp cloth or paper towels to pick up the rest.
9. Put the debris and any materials used to clean it up into a secure closed container and label it "Universal Waste -Broken Lamp."
10. Take the container for recycling of universal waste.
That seems easy and these bulbs will be mandated in the near future!
Putting these two regulations together begs the question: What is more likely to happen, a child breaks a light bulb or he eats an ATV? I don't have time to ponder it now, the dog has been drinking out of the toilet and now he is burping soap bubbles.
S2
2 comments:
I am no expert in the toxicity of anything, but I think that the concern that people have these days about mercury are overstated.
When I was young (maybe ten or twelve? I can't remember), my Dad had a jar of liquid mercury in the basement work shop. There must have been a pound of it. Every once in a while, he would let me have a little. My friends and I used to rub it onto silver coins (remember when coins were actually made out of something valuable? I do). The mercury coated the coins beautifully. They shined more. Silver is whitish, but mercury is a purer "silvery" color. And it's slippery. The effect would last until the mercury began to oxidize, which it does more readily than silver. When it does, it, too, becomes whitish, and doesn't look as nice. That's when we would get tired of the coins and put them back in circulation.
Once, I wanted to see what would happen if I heated some mercury to a very high temperature. I had maybe a baby pea-sized drop of it that I put into a shallow container. Then I turned a propane torch onto it. I bent over it while I worked. Eventually, I made it red hot. I wonder how close to its boiling point I came. I wonder how many more mercury fumes I breathed than does someone who cleans up after a CFL. Well, I survived, and made it through college and 40 years in a technical field. Why am I not dead?
CrackerBarrel
I am in total agreement. I don't know how any of us made it to adulthood if, as is claimed today by the do-gooders and nanny state overlords, everything is bad for us.
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