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Safety Commission To Rule On Safety of Rulers In Science Kits
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has been trying decide for weeks if science kits designed to teach children are safe enough for children to use without vigorous testing. It's not just the chemicals or sharp items in the kits that they are troubled with however. They are also concerned about the dangers of paper clips, magnets, and rulers. From the article: "Science kit makers asked for a testing exemption for the paper clips and other materials. The commission declined to grant them a blanket waiver as part of the guidance the agency approved Wednesday on a 3-2 vote." To be fair, paper clips can cause a lot of damage — just look at what Clippy did to Microsoft Office.
What do you need actual chemicals and stuff for, not to mention rulers and paper clips? Why not just a "My Science Kit" app, and do virtual experiments? Although I guess you could drop the PC on your foot or something, which could also be dangerous.
Why would you want to give a kid a ruler with inches on it in the first place? Inches are only used in backward, ignorant countries like Liberia and Burma.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
What the story is really about is the committee trying to make their mandate apply to absolutely everything, regardless of whether it had any real chance of causing damage to children.
Which is what every beaurucracy does. Slowly expand it's boundaries to increase its size.
Why in the hell is a committee of five people given the power to destroy an entire market segment? At most, the committee should have the power to require a "might contain lead" label. Giving them the power to ban products is just ridiculous.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
I was responding to the parent bemoaning the decline of science education in the US in general, and the link the parent provided made no mention of the difficulty in selling chemistry sets to children as a potential cause.
But, hey, government bad, beer good, rah rah, whatever.
> under certain conditions George W Bush
Those conditions being him breathing ?
What a depressingly stupid machine.