While Dan exposes Henry Waxman’s [the Democrats' own Nosferatu] latest authoritarian crusade, let’s not forget the havoc that continues apace with his CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement [heh] Act of 2008).
As Walter Olson writes:
It’s hard to believe, but true: under a law Congress passed last year aimed at regulating hazards in children’s products, the federal government has now advised that children’s books published before 1985 should not be considered safe and may in many cases be unlawful to sell or distribute. Merchants, thrift stores, and booksellers may be at risk if they sell older volumes, or even give them away, without first subjecting them to testingâ€â€at prohibitive expense. Many used-book sellers, consignment stores, Goodwill outlets, and the like have accordingly begun to refuse new donations of pre-1985 volumes, yank existing ones off their shelves, and in some cases discard them en masse.
I have some beautiful children’s books I have kept for my kids and grandkids. A set of Bobbsey Twins from the early 1900’s, a volume of Biography of a Grizzly by Ernest Thompson Seton - also from the early 1900’s (my grandfather’s favorite childhood book). There are all my girls’ books from Beatrice Potter books to Chronicles of Narnia.
Love2learn blog has started an Illegal Books meme.
And don’t think that one will be able to use the Internet to slip some gently used baby clothes or old illustrated kiddie books into willing hands … cuz Henry is watching
In order to crack down on online sites such as Craigslist and Ebay, the CPSC says, they are currently working with an internet surveillance team to watch over the online marketplaces.
(h/t Ace)
Comment by VAHighlander on 2/16 @ 1:14 pm #
More EPIC FAIL from our congresscritters, fueled by media hysteria. Shall we have a good old fashioned book burning then?
My country, I weep for it.
Comment by Dan Collins on 2/16 @ 1:19 pm #
I had the hugest crush on Pam Hollister.
Comment by Techie on 2/16 @ 1:34 pm #
“There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.
Ray Bradbury
Comment by Carin on 2/16 @ 1:35 pm #
Fucking fuckers. God I hate my government.
Comment by Kevin B on 2/16 @ 1:37 pm #
Just as a matter of interest, why 1985? Was this some watershed year where the n-word was forever banned from children’s books? Or maybe all kiddie’s books published after that year had to have contraceptive advice embedded in the narrative?
Comment by Republican on Acid on 2/16 @ 1:37 pm #
I now fully understand why countries have revolutions. Sometimes you just get to a point where voting just doesn’t work.
I say we throw all of them out by force - it has gotten that bad.
Comment by Techie on 2/16 @ 1:37 pm #
“In order to crack down on online sites such as Craigslist and Ebay, the CPSC says, they are currently working with an internet surveillance team to watch over the online marketplaces.”
I’m sure that this is merely the will of the American People. There is such a groundswell of support to drive used bookstores and the Salvation Army out of business.
Comment by happyfeet on 2/16 @ 1:38 pm #
That reminds me I’m wanting to get some of these ones for Christmas next year for a little girl what isn’t getting any littler. Maybe this fascist law will get people interested in reprinting older stuff cause damn these are expensive. I just now googled for the first time. Kind of stupid expensive to where maybe she can just get some Richard Scarry or whatever. Or maybe I should just get one really good one and tell them to read it the one time to her and then sell it when she goes to college or something. I think I will think about this later.
Comment by happyfeet on 2/16 @ 1:40 pm #
oh. It says 1985 was when they stopped using lead in illustrations. Especially the illustrations children love to lick I guess.
Comment by happyfeet on 2/16 @ 1:41 pm #
When Peggy Noonan was growing up, ALL of her books what she had were pre-1985 books.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 2/16 @ 1:42 pm #
It’s likely they’re referring to the use of lead-based pigments. So it’s not like the lead is just sitting there.
The whole lead phobia (plumophobia?) is maddening. I can buy slugs of lead molded into the forms of people, but when I go to paint them, I can’t find a good yellow paint, because the yellow pigment is lead-based…
Comment by VAHighlander on 2/16 @ 1:48 pm #
I’d like to point out the part where the CPSC has granted a one-year stay of most of this fiasco.
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09115.html
So we have a year to put pressure on our congressmen to make sure that these regulations, especially pertaining to books, are reconsidered. That’s if you have any faith left in the system, which isn’t particularly Outlaw-like, but what the hell?
Comment by Darleen on 2/16 @ 1:55 pm #
VAH
While the CPSC has suspended the testing requirement (and there was no testing requirement for libraries or thrift stores) they did NOT SUSPEND THE LIABILITY of those entities.
In other words… secondhand bookseller, you can take a risk that the pre-1985 kiddie book is “ok” but if someone buys it, goes to a testing place and finds it is not in compliance, you are on the hook for jail and/or $100,000 fine PER BOOK.
So Goodwill, et al, have been dumping everything child-related since Feb 11.
Comment by David McKinnis on 2/16 @ 2:04 pm #
Kids will never know what the Queen Of Hearts represents.
Comment by JohnAnnArbor on 2/16 @ 2:08 pm #
Instead of consigning them to the flames, they will be consigned to be recycled into instructional books on sex and global warming.
Comment by SarahW on 2/16 @ 2:08 pm #
If Miss Suzy got her house back from the red squirrels I don’t see why we can’t.
Of course she had toy soldiers to help her. SOLDIERS MADE OF LEAD!
Comment by JohnAnnArbor on 2/16 @ 2:13 pm #
Apparently, word of the one-year stay hasn’t made it to the regulated, has it? Thanks be to lawyers! All that is sold will be sanitary and lead-free!
(pause)
But little Cindy’s still a little slow. So we gotta sue somebody, ’cause obviously she has lead poisoning.
(pause)
The school library and their damned books! We’ll get them for not cleansing themselves of every last hardback Nancy Drew book! Let’s work on jury selection….
Comment by comatus on 2/16 @ 2:21 pm #
I, for one, have no desire to live in a world without:
http://tinyurl.com/anuwb2
Forgive us, Johnny Tremain!
Comment by VAHighlander on 2/16 @ 2:23 pm #
I guess my point is that all hope is not lost that some sense could be brought to this mess. Senator Jim DeMint introduced a bill S. 374 attempting to do that.
http://demint.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=47f5e571-e91a-1938-714d-890052de9195&Type=Press%20Release&Month=2&Year=2009
I notice all the co-sponsors are Republicans so it’s probably doomed. Although it would be a great opportunity to show some bipartisan spirit a la Obama.
Comment by lee on 2/16 @ 2:41 pm #
Mr. Acid, @ #6, I hear you.
By the way, did you know ammo is hard to find these days? I stopped at Big five for some .38 special (I’m going to teach my GF to shoot, and plan to step her up on the .357 mag), and they had hardly any ammo at all. The guy told me supply is far behind demand.
Comment by SarahW on 2/16 @ 3:16 pm #
That’s ok. You can just melt those children’s books and make bullets.
Comment by SarahW on 2/16 @ 3:17 pm #
CHeezit crackers. Somebody must be getting a payoff from the lead-testing industry.
Comment by Celtic Dragon on 2/16 @ 3:42 pm #
Apparently it is affecting more than used book sellers. I’ve heard ANYTHING that could have lead and could possibly come into contact with children is being affected, including Motorcycles and ATVs. Just what you need in a recession, forcing small business to destroy inventory, and lose even more money.
They want lead, they’re going to get it, sooner or later…
Comment by Swen Swenson on 2/16 @ 4:00 pm #
Tar. Feathers. A nice, splintery rail..
Comment by geoffb on 2/16 @ 4:14 pm #
How far out can they go? Electronics, lead solder; Autos, lead in the battery plus the electronics and light bulbs. Lead crystal glassware.
It’s like “Chicken Man, He’s everywhere, he’s everywhere”.
Comment by Darleen on 2/16 @ 4:22 pm #
CD
Say goodbye to dirt bikes
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/dirt-bikes/
because Henry Waxman thinks 11 year olds are going to dismantle the bikes to be able to lick the battery terminals.
Comment by cranky-d on 2/16 @ 4:29 pm #
If you have a 10 year old kid who is still eating paint, I think that kid has more issues than possible lead poisoning.
Comment by Darleen on 2/16 @ 4:30 pm #
Bikes, too ….
http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org/news—updates/crashbmxbikesgetwipedoutbycpsia
Comment by Darleen on 2/16 @ 4:36 pm #
Anything….ANYTHING that is made for children under 12 is affected. Are you a hobbiest that sews kids Halloween costumes? Better not sell or donate ‘em. Make doll houses in your garage? Tree houses?
this is a “kill small business” bill
Comment by geoffb on 2/16 @ 4:47 pm #
If the outrage gets loud enough these “problems” will be called unintended consequences. If they are then everyone, Congressmen, staff, CPSC people who recommended this law should resign stating that it has become obvious that they don’t have the mental horsepower to be entrusted with anything regarding law.
If they don’t resign, it should then be realized that these things were intended consequences.
So what is it Henry, the stupid defense, or the evil defense?
Comment by Celtic Dragon on 2/16 @ 4:47 pm #
Our political “betters” have declared war on us for years, under the guise of “helping and protecting” us. This is just the worst (and stupidest) example recently…
Comment by N. O'Brain on 2/16 @ 5:15 pm #
Tar. Feathers. Regulatory bodies.
Some assembly required.
Comment by N. O'Brain on 2/16 @ 5:17 pm #
“Comment by cranky-d on 2/16 @ 4:29 pm #
If you have a 10 year old kid who is still eating paint, I think that kid has more issues than possible lead poisoning.”
Well, that explains thor.
Comment by Nan on 2/16 @ 5:55 pm #
As a K-8 school librarian for a very large school with a huge “media center” (let’s be politically correct here), I think it’s time for me to retire.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 2/16 @ 6:00 pm #
Nan, if I were you I’d be looking into snagging all the discards. From what I can tell, they’re legal to own (for now) as long as you’re not distributing them to the kiddies.
I suspect that they’re going to become quite valuable in the coming years. I’m thinking about cleaning out the used bookstores in town, assuming that they haven’t already dumped them.
Comment by Darleen on 2/16 @ 6:02 pm #
Nan
can you please rescue some of the books that your library will be required to send to the landfill?
There are so many wonderfully illustrated, and out of print, kiddie books that will never be reprinted.
I almost wonder if this is a way to get rid of youth books with “incorrect” themes.
Comment by Nan on 2/16 @ 6:10 pm #
I already started a list of some kiddie lit greats that are going to bite the dust. I’m gonna be sneaking them out of the library a few at a time. Mine is the grey house with the red shutters. Slip a list of the titles you seek under the welcome mat. We’ll be in touch.
The Nazis are in charge.
Comment by DeputyHeadmistress on 2/16 @ 6:32 pm #
The law covers ALL products intended primarily for the use of children 12 and under. Pen makers, as the law stands, can no longer sell pens intended for children, no sales to schools, no specialized marketing, licensed characters, etc. That’s just the lead testing. As of August, the testing must be licensed third party testing of each and every component. Knit scarves using three colors of yarn, four tests (one per color, one per final product). The testing destroys the product, so there is no point in testing old books, as the test results in a pile of goo or ashes you cannot read.
And the stay is cosmetic. We don’t have a year- thrift shops are not protected by the stay- no retailer is. It’s not just that you might accidentally sell something with lead. It’s selling untested items that is illegal- and the Commission *specifically* excluded books published before 1985 from the stay, along with a few other items (buttons, snaps, zippers, jewelry, painted toys, things with small pieces, cribs, etc.)
Furthermore, The States’ Attorneys General remain a huge and looming threat: They do not have to respect the Stay, and some have specifically said they won’t.
Specifically:
So you don’t have to even sell something with lead in it to violate the law. Just selling an item that hasn’t been tested is illegal, and the stay does not protect you from a zealous AG, particularly when the law also raised the fines and possible settlement amounts, so the ‘consumer interest’ groups who pushed this bill through in the first place (PIRG, public citizen, NRDC, Mom’s Rising, Consumer’s Union and others) can pursue charges and a lawsuit and split the proceeds.
AND, Public Citizen and NRDC already successfully sued to have the phthalates ban made retroactive, so it applies to inventory. Rumour has it they are going to sue again to overturn the stay.
Comment by Darleen on 2/16 @ 6:50 pm #
Deputy HM
I know several women … crafters… who knit or quilt for local hospitals. Specifically for the NICU’s. Quilts to cover the incubators, tiny hats for the premies.
I haven’t had the heart to ask ‘em if the hospitals are now turning away their donations.
Comment by Techie on 2/16 @ 6:51 pm #
Behold your future’s end.
Comment by Dana on 2/16 @ 7:13 pm #
As it happens, I have a 1943 edition of Mein Kampf, in English, around the house. Yeah, I’ve actually read it. Now I see that it might have lead in the print. Apparently Der Führer can still harm our children even after 64 years in Hell.
Comment by Bob Reed on 2/16 @ 7:13 pm #
I’ll be happy to accept any books that folks feel compelled to dispose of. And I’ll supply them a disclaimer or release of any liability as well…
Books are stepping stones to knowledge; I’m only to happy to expand my personal library…
Comment by Wacky Hermit on 2/16 @ 7:25 pm #
Please, help us do something about this, even if you just spread the word. If we don’t fight this, they’re just going to keep coming up with worse. You saw what they did with the stimulus bill– rammed it through despite the majority of citizens being against it, even as their inboxes and voicemail boxes filled to overflowing with objections.
Contact your Senator and Representative and tell them to go on the record against this tyranny!
Comment by Tristan Benz on 2/16 @ 7:26 pm #
I’m so done with the tail wagging the dog around America. I say it’s time WE THE PEOPLE require our public SERVANTS to hear our voices - to do OUR WILL - on behalf of OUR children. This law is ridiculous and needs to be overturned and they need to actually consult WE, the people for a change…what say you?
Thanks for this great post / exchange.
Warm Regards,
Tristan Benz
Maiden America
Comment by B Moe on 2/16 @ 8:00 pm #
This could be big. All electronics have lead based solder in them. Video games, iPods, cell phones, everything electronic.
You hear that kids? Obama is going to take away all your toys.
I said Obama is going to take away all your toys!
bwahahahahahahahahaha!
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 2/16 @ 8:15 pm #
Behold your future’s end.
Those who control the past control the future.
Comment by geoffb on 2/16 @ 8:32 pm #
Those who can eliminate the past, control it.
Comment by Lamontyoubigdummy on 2/16 @ 8:33 pm #
“Where the Wild Things Are.”
Please tell me the liberals have left that one alone.
God knows when they get older Mark Twain will be booted. Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy will surely be outlawed long before they hit Indoctrination, er Highschool.
Comment by geoffb on 2/16 @ 8:37 pm #
From all that has been said I think the “I’m stupid” defense is out. This law is a manifestation of the purest evil wrapped in a thin sugar coating of “It’s for the children”.
Comment by JohnAnnArbor on 2/16 @ 8:46 pm #
Is there any concentration standard? Or is detecting a single atom of lead enough to cause the product to be verboten?
Comment by Rusty on 2/16 @ 8:52 pm #
#45
Comment by B Moe on 2/16 @ 8:00 pm #
This could be big. All electronics have lead based solder in them. Video games, iPods, cell phones, everything electronic.
You hear that kids? Obama is going to take away all your toys.
I said Obama is going to take away all your toys!
bwahahahahahahahahaha!
Some of my fondest childhood memories involve playing about and soldering electrical circuits together with lead solder and various and sundry caustic fluxes in order to electrocute my siblings.
I rather don’t like busybodies.
Pingback by Monday night linkage « Nuke’s on 2/16 @ 9:14 pm #
[...] your vintage children’s books now before Henry Waxman outlaws them. It’s hard to believe, but true: under a law Congress passed last year aimed at regulating [...]
Comment by Darleen on 2/16 @ 9:20 pm #
JohnAnnArbor
for lead it’s 600 parts per million
the bill also bans “phthalates” (plastic softners) that exist in objects of .1%
Comment by geoffb on 2/16 @ 9:27 pm #
Just got done on a solder repair. Let’s see. 60/40 solder. 60% lead so 600,000 parts per million. 1000 times the limit. I must be dead already.
Now where is Melinda?
Comment by serr8d on 2/16 @ 9:39 pm #
The U.S. is well behind Europe in lead-free manufacturing. At the pay-my-bills corporation where I work (a manufacturer and exporter as well as producing for the domestic market) we’ve spent millions on RoHS-compliant processes. Just to get a opportunity to get in the export door.
Comment by Curmudgeon Geographer on 2/16 @ 9:43 pm #
Europe may be ahead of the US in lead-free manufacturing, but no longer with this law, which is why European boutique toy manufacturers pulling out of the US. Because of the CPSIA.
Comment by serr8d on 2/16 @ 9:46 pm #
RoHS deals with electronic production and materials only, CG. This new old-ink rule is purely American; overreacting and overreaching.
Comment by Darleen on 2/16 @ 9:47 pm #
Serr8d
I confess my ignorance of the inner workings of electronics (my hubby’s venue). All I know is that my twin grandsons grow like weeds and they have a box full of barely worn jeans with zippers that cannot be given to charity or sold at garage sales least some be hauled to jail.
THAT really helps frugal parents trying to clothe their kids in economic downturns, eh?
Comment by serr8d on 2/16 @ 9:51 pm #
Darleen, I don’t think there’s many pairs of used pants you’ll want to buy that were made before 1985.
Books, now, that’s different. I’ll have to visit my favorite McKay’s Used Book outlet tomorrow to see if the kid’s sections are a wasteland of empty shelves..
Comment by serr8d on 2/16 @ 9:53 pm #
And, 501’s will be making a comeback! Finally!
Comment by serr8d on 2/16 @ 9:57 pm #
Wait a minute…they can’t stop yard sales sales.
Can they?
(I think yard sales will be more important now than ever, for people who are money-frugal, that is, most everybody. This spring, look for a yard sale explosion.)
Comment by Darleen on 2/16 @ 10:01 pm #
Serr8d
Books before 1985 are banned … ANY clothing from ANY era for kids 12 and under has to have a 3rd party certification or you cannot sell it or donate it
that includes yard sales and the internet
Comment by Darleen on 2/16 @ 10:02 pm #
serr8d
501 have metal buttons… sorry, they’re out too
No snaps, zippers or plastic/metal buttons.
Comment by Dan Collins on 2/16 @ 10:05 pm #
I remember The Mercury Rabbit. Boy, I loved to suck on that book.
Comment by Stephanie on 2/16 @ 10:10 pm #
Books before 1985 are banned … ANY clothing from ANY era for kids 12 and under has to have a 3rd party certification or you cannot sell it or donate it
that includes yard sales and the internet
O!’s Brownshirts coming soon to a yard sale near you… fines will probably be doubled if you sell to a minority…
And I fucking refuse to denounce myself, I’m all outlawy that way….
Comment by serr8d on 2/16 @ 10:16 pm #
Hmmph. This law will die of it’s own lumbering unenforceability.
Comment by B Moe on 2/16 @ 10:16 pm #
Some of my fondest childhood memories involve playing about and soldering electrical circuits together with lead solder and various and sundry caustic fluxes in order to electrocute my siblings.
I rather don’t like busybodies.
I used to take apart old light switches and save the mercury in pill bottles, take it out and play with it sometimes. I tend to be a little skeptical of the fear mongering.
Wait a minute…they can’t stop yard sales sales.
Can they?
Does your yard have lead in it?
Comment by Stephanie on 2/16 @ 10:17 pm #
I plan on using my banned pre-1985 books to cypher my banned speech due to the fairness doctrine on the intertubes and passing them all spooklike in the public park to others to communicate the new message of…
Outlaw!!
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 2/16 @ 10:17 pm #
Hmmph. This law will die of it’s own lumbering unenforceability.
Unless you happen to piss off one of the enforcers.
That’s how these things usually play out.
Comment by Darleen on 2/16 @ 10:35 pm #
Hmmph. This law will die of it’s own lumbering unenforceability.
Except for one really scary thing .. the CPSIA authorizes ALL STATE ATTORNEY GENERALS to enforce the law any way they see fit.
it that doesn’t send chills up your spine, then contemplate I live in CA and our SAG is Jerry Brown.
Comment by serr8d on 2/16 @ 10:43 pm #
Does your yard have lead in it?
Here in Tennessee, not so much. But on the 15 acres I left in Arizona, there’s pounds of lead in certain dry wash embankments. I’d say it’s probably considered hazardous by today’s standards.
I live in CA and our SAG is Jerry Brown.
Can I send you a suitcase? )
Comment by Spiny Norman on 2/16 @ 11:15 pm #
Except for one really scary thing .. the CPSIA authorizes ALL STATE ATTORNEY GENERALS to enforce the law any way they see fit.
it that doesn’t send chills up your spine, then contemplate I live in CA and our SAG is Jerry Brown.
Isn’t Attorney General Moonbeam too busy at the moment suing suburban cities for allowing detached single-family homes to be built? The focking idiot.
Comment by DeputyHeadmistress on 2/16 @ 11:38 pm #
JohnAnnArbor- currently it’s 600 ppm. That goes down to 300 ppm in August. It goes down again to 100 ppm after August of 2011, unless the Commission learns this is not technologically possible.
Our lead limits may not be as good as Europe’s, but it doesn’t matter. The *testing* mechanisms are so onerous that German toy company Selecta has pulled out of the US market because they find the testing processes far too expensive- they meet the lead limits, they just can’t justify the expense of the CPSIA required lead testing.
Then there are the phthalates limits- which require even more expensive testing of ALL toys, even wooden ones, and baby bibs, blankets, pacifiers, bottles, teethers, spoons, cups, and other childcare products for children 3 and under.
I expect they will leave yard sales alone, but they are on record as looking for ways to enforce the bans on ebay and Craig’s List.
I expect that eventually fabrics and other textiles (yarns) will be exempt, but metal snaps, buckles, buttons, zippers, and grommets, probably never.
On electronic parts- they are allowed some lead over the limits if its not accessible by children (presumably the inside of some compartment that has to be unscrewed to get into).
I’m surprised, however, that motorbikes/dirt bikes haven’t been exempt on the same basis. Children who mouth things are not generally allowed alone with dirt bikes, and I don’t see how lead tire valves or brakes could be seen as ‘accessible’ enough to pose a lead danger to children.
Henry Waxman is refusing to call a committee meeting to review this horribly written law, and the groups like PIRG and Public Citizen are putting up a tremendous fight (and several falsehoods) against any reform.
I expect that if they get away with keeping this law as written, it’s only a matter of time before they go after adult products, and eventually yard sales, too.
Comment by Stephanie on 2/16 @ 11:58 pm #
I’m gonna go find my original of Little Black Sambo and read it and treasure the pictures of the tigers turning into butter er lead… I have my grandmother’s copy from when she was a child… published in the 1900s with absolutely gorgeous illustrations.
I have original editions of Sinclair, Updike, Heyerdahl’s Kon-Tiki, The Dana Girl’s (the precursor to Nancy Drew), and many others that are in storage. All 1st editions and all delightfully leady… thank goodness I had well-read parents and grandparents to poison my mind…literally.
Pingback by CPSIA and vintage books, cont’d: slicing the past on 2/17 @ 12:31 am #
[...] attention, and all I can acknowledge are a few of the highlights. Education expert Jay Greene and Darleen Click at Protein Wisdom are among those put in mind of Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. Will Benton: “Every [...]
Pingback by Shopfloor » Blog Archive » CPSIA Update: Destruction Continues; Congress Back Home on 2/17 @ 8:56 am #
[...] attention, and all I can acknowledge are a few of the highlights. Education expert Jay Greene and Darleen Click at Protein Wisdom are among those put in mind of Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451. “Of all the risks facing [...]
Comment by dantealiegri on 2/17 @ 9:47 am #
Man,
I guess after the nannies got the slap that thermisol isn’t causing autism they figured they are going to fight tooth and nail on this. ( If thermisol isn’t doing it, it must be lead? )
serr8d - regarding the ROHS, all the EEs I know say it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
The great irony of all this, is that the same people that want this stuff are then going to complain that the companies are shafting them by making inferior products because “My radio when I was young lasted 20 years”. Etc etc.
Hidden costs for all!
Comment by Bob Reed on 2/17 @ 10:15 am #
Whazzup Dante muh man!
Get to Firenza much these days? They have a great statue of you next to Santa Croce…
Loved the Divina Commedia, by the way…
Ciao, bella fortuna
Comment by JohnAnnArbor on 2/17 @ 10:40 am #
I have a musket ball that was molded for me at a historic fort as I watched, back in the early ’80s. Doubtless it’s mostly lead.
Comment by geoffb on 2/17 @ 11:36 am #
Imitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery.
Comment by dantealiegri on 2/17 @ 12:30 pm #
Bob,
Did you read it in Italian or English? I only ask because I like seeing which English translation people read and if they liked it.
Comment by RR Ryan on 2/17 @ 4:22 pm #
This is just overtly silly. My boyfriend’s mother joked about stunting growth by smoking and drinking during pregnancy. Her take: thank God we did or we wouldn’t have been able to feed or clothe the giants. The same thing is true of lead crystal. My boyfriend and I drank out of nothing else growing up and were both graduated with honors from good schools. More than once. And vaccinations cause autism… Really, I could go on but for a good, biting take on this nonsense see Florence King. Not always on point, but entertaining nonetheless.
Comment by pst314 on 2/17 @ 10:34 pm #
“I can buy slugs of lead molded into the forms of people, but when I go to paint them, I can’t find a good yellow paint, because the yellow pigment is lead-based…”
The slugs are pure lead, whereas it’s possible that the paint may use a lead compound which is more easily absorbed by the body. I’m speaking from ignorance here, an analogizing based on what I know about mercury: Metallic mercury is far less toxic than some of the other forms in which it can be found.
That said, I wish only bad things for the safety nazis.
Comment by John Dickson on 2/18 @ 6:57 pm #
I thought we were to PC in the UK, now I wonder, what is this world coming to, I cannot think for one minute that we as humans could think up this garbage so we must have been infiltrate by aliens. Lonhg live Noddy & Big Ears, Gollywogs rule.
Pingback by You’ll get my heirloom tomatoes when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers [Darleen Click] on 3/12 @ 12:01 am #
[...] month ago I called attention to the debacle of the CPSIA. The news goes from bad to worse and the stupidity is so outrageous … The CPSC put up some [...]
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Pingback by Obama’s head nannies are eager … [Darleen Click] on 10/13 @ 8:00 am #
[...] covered the irrational, draconian CPSIA “regulations” here before — from banning children’s books printed before 1985 to educational toys to making crafters, knitters, quilters, thriftstores, [...]
Pingback by Jerry Brown thinks clothing is “toys” … How convenient. [Darleen Click] on 11/19 @ 8:45 am #
[...] idiocy and harm to be done by the CPSIA (best coverage at Overlawyered and I’ve covered it here and here) is to see CA AG Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown hold a press conference in order to [...]