You might be amused by a story about a someone who just can not bear the risks of wildlife:

The case was brought by the exasperated beekeeper after a year of trying vainly to protect his beehives.

For a while, he kept the animal away by buying a generator, lighting up the area, and playing thumping Serbian turbo-folk music.

But when the generator ran out of power and the music fell silent, the bear was back and the honey was gone once more.

Is this case not like suing a landlord for the behavior of a tenant?

The beekeeper should have sued whomever aided and abetted this bear, rather than the organization that provided it habitat, no?

Wonder if anyone will sue Bear Stearns for eating up all the money in Wall Street.

The “ran out of power” argument is interesting too. Perhaps a low-power music device that does not need a generator would have made more sense? Then again, it sounds like Serbian turbo-folk music might need a lot of power, even if running from a USB stick.

I wrote about this issue a while ago, and now the questions I pondered are being answered. The BBC reports:

A mandatory certification programme is now being developed by the US Toy Industry Association and the CPSC as part of the House of Representatives bill on consumer safety.

The plan provides for stricter procedures for analysing safety during the design and manufacturing of toys and the testing of finished products, as well as factory audits.

Sounds good, although the fact that there are huge beef recalls in recent news does not inspire a lot of confidence in the controls system proposed. In particular, I was just reading how a massive California meat recall was started after undercover video was released by the Humane Society.

The recall by the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company, based in Chino, Calif., comes after a widening animal-abuse scandal that started after the Humane Society of the United States distributed an undercover video on Jan. 30 that showed workers kicking sick cows and using forklifts to force them to walk.

[…]

The video was embarrassing for the Department of Agriculture, as inspectors are supposed to be monitoring slaughterhouses for abuse. It surfaced after a year of increasing concerns about the safety of the meat supply amid a sharp increase in the number of recalls tied to a particularly deadly form of the E. coli pathogen.

And in another case auditors discovered that their inspectors audited the wrong Chinese facility. Controls are definitely non-trivial to design and manage properly.

“The recall is obviously the big news,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society. “The longer-term problem is the inadequacies of the inspection system. How can so many downers [cows that can no longer walk] have been mistreated day after day within a U.S.D.A. oversight system that was present at the plant?

“We need more boots on the ground at the plants,” he said.

Yes, although the fact that the video on YouTube created a public outcry might suggest some technology solutions that could reduce this requirement for “boots”. Surveillance obviously has some advantages over moving bodies, especially in terms of remote locations. And the fact that surveillance, video and RFID, might also help ranchers manage their own stocks could make it a good thing for everyone. On the flip side, everyone knows that ranchers hate accuracy and measurements in the system as it shifts the balance of control away from them and into the regulators/auditors. That means higher tax and overhead implications. Like I said, controls are non-trivial to design properly.

If I asked you what a normal cooking temperature was, could you tell me within ten degrees of accuracy; what about fifty degrees of accuracy?

I am certainly not the best chef. I confess I have no idea what the exact temperature of a frying pan is when I put it on medium, or medium-high, high, etc..

Now consider the latest news from the Environmental Working Group on Teflon:

For the past fifty years DuPont has claimed that their Teflon coatings do not emit hazardous chemicals through normal use. In a recent press release, DuPont wrote that “significant decomposition of the coating will occur only when temperatures exceed about 660 degrees F (340 degrees C). These temperatures alone are well above the normal cooking range.”

I see. So the normal cooking range is below 660 degrees F. The only problem with DuPont’s reasoning is that most people probably do not know this and regularly cook above the level that they consider “normal”. Safety suddenly comes into play, and yet I would bet not a single DuPont teflon user has any idea of the risks:

In new tests conducted by a university food safety professor, a generic non-stick frying pan preheated on a conventional, electric stovetop burner reached 736°F in three minutes and 20 seconds, with temperatures still rising when the tests were terminated. A Teflon pan reached 721°F in just five minutes under the same test conditions (See Figure 1), as measured by a commercially available infrared thermometer. DuPont studies show that the Teflon offgases toxic particulates at 446°F. At 680°F Teflon pans release at least six toxic gases, including two carcinogens, two global pollutants, and MFA, a chemical lethal to humans at low doses. At temperatures that DuPont scientists claim are reached on stovetop drip pans (1000°F), non-stick coatings break down to a chemical warfare agent known as PFIB, and a chemical analog of the WWII nerve gas phosgene.

Personally, I have never liked teflon because I felt the risks were not clearly discussed or identified and so I have only bought stainless steel cookware. Come to think of it, I have not owned teflon for over fifteen years. When I first started looking for safety data and could not find anything conclusive, I steered clear. I also never understood the idea that it could peel off if you touched it with metal, like a normal fork or spoon. What kind of “hard” surface requires you to replace all your cutlery?

This general unease now turns out to be well founded.

Unless you can monitor your temperatures and/or install controls to keep teflon below 660 degrees F, there are some serious health risks to consider. I guess I will stick to stainless steel for now (pun intended).