Posted on 06/30/2004 3:07:23 PM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
(Hartford-AP, June 30, 2004 2:00 PM) _ Spiderman has a new nemesis.
It's the multi-armed, litigating creature known as -- Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
The battle is not over world domination. It's a lighting problem and cereal.
Blumenthal wrote a letter to the Kellogg company today asking for boxes of Rice Krispies that contain a "Spidey Signal" toy pulled from store shelves.
Blumenthal claims the toys violate the state's zero-tolerance mercury law. He says the mercury batteries needlessly imperil the environment.
The promotion is timed with the premiere of the expected summer blockbuster "Spider-Man 2," which debuts in theaters today.
Blumenthal said he may also consider action against stores that continue to sell boxes of Rice Krispies containing Spidey-Signals.
The non-replaceable battery is sealed within the toy, which can't be readily dissembled.
"The non-replaceable battery is sealed within the toy, which can't be readily dissembled."
dis·sem·ble
To disguise or conceal behind a false appearance.
To make a false show of; feign.
To disguise or conceal one's real nature, motives, or feelings behind a false appearance.
At least his spellcheck caught it...
Mercury Krispies. Yum.
I like to dissemble,you meet lots of interesting people that way!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How else are todays kids supposed to get their superpowers if they can't munch on mercury-laden Rice Krispies?
Hey, I got two of these toys...who can I sue?????
Kellogg's should take advantage of this and sell the new cereal "Krypton Krispies".
Keep em. they might become collectors items.
What Connecticut really needs is a zero-tolerance Blumenthal law. Blumenthal is a character right out of Ayn Rand's 'Atlas Shrugged' - he is emblematic of the Commie in high places who is working to increase his personal power so that he can harness it for the purpose of defeating civilization.
The CT version of the story is quite dumbed down, too.
Below is just part of a more complete story as published in the Worcester, Massachusetts Telegram & Gazette:
....."The box and a slip of paper inside the pouch warn consumers that the toy contains mercury, and should be disposed of properly. The batteries and light are not replaceable, and last for about 25 hours, the warnings say.The Battle Creek, Mich.-based company consulted with state environmental officials about the product, Kellogg's spokeswoman Jenny Enochson said. The company put the mercury warnings on the box because of Connecticut's regulations, she said.
"We were surprised to receive the letter," Enochson said. "We do believe that we are in compliance, and don't have plans to remove products from store shelves."
The state's mercury-reduction laws, passed two years ago, ban the sale of novelties such as toys, holiday decorations, musical greeting cards, figurines and practical joke merchandise that contain mercury.
But if the battery can be easily removed, such as in a wristwatch, the item is not defined as a novelty. Battery-makers for those products must create a label that informs consumers of the mercury and tells them to dispose of it properly, said Bob Kaliszewski, a DEP official in the Division of Environmental Assistance and Outreach.
The "Spidey Signal's" battery is not replaceable and can only be removed by dismantling the toy."
I don't think we need mercury batteries in cereal. Also, all those crappy little toys in cereal are all made in China. We don't need to pollute our kids and our environment with crap made in China.
We;d be happy to send him to California for a "trial" period.
How did you know I was California? (sarcasm) My point is that I am sick of all this junk made in China clogging up our landfills. We are being invaded by Chinese junk. I am no environut, but do we really need millions of crappy little plastic toys w/mercury batteries inside them distributed throughout the country via cereal boxes? I don't think so. Within a month at least half would be in the trash.
For instance, the top import partners for the U.S. are Canada, Japan, and Mexico. You'd have to complain about them first to make a valid argument about too many Chinese imports.
Better we should question our own "meddle" peddlers like Blumenthal who try to tell us that they, in their infinite wisdom, know the ideal scripts for our lives.
You're free ~not~ to buy mercury-containing toys. Others are free to buy them, with appropriate warning. Many other parallels can be made that err on the side of liberty, and that, to me anyway, is good.
Where did they find mercury batteries? They were phased out years ago, and so if you need 1.35V, you are stuck with 1.5V and regulating circuit
Calm down man. You do know that the Spidey Signal is smaller than the box the cereal comes in, or the nonbiodegradeable plastic bag inside the box, and it's smaller than the swath of industrial plastic pallet wrap which was discarded in order to place the boxes on the shelf. Also smaller than the plastic soda cup that the truck driver drank from on the trip to the grocery store. And less potentially harmful than the carbon monoxide and carbon soot blown out by the truck as it made its way from the Kellogg company to the local distributor's depot. Ten million spidey signals would barely fill a 2 car garage 2 feet deep. There are over 80 million two car garages in the United States. Each of these contains an average of 0.000000000000007e-2 Spider man signal devices currently, and 0.0298 Jarts brand Lawn-Darts.
There are other things to worry about. Go to McDonalds with your family. After your meal, weigh the paper before you discard it. While throwing it away, check out the amount of paper goods already in the trash, and imagine the result if this was incinerated for energy. Ooops, that's carbon dioxide. Maybe you could use the paper as compost. Whoa! That produces CO2 also. Oh well, just throw it away.
No funny bone I see
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