THIS just GETS MY GOAT, folks!!!
After all of these years, could some long-standing children’s books like The Cat In The Hat actually be dangerous for your kids?
It has nothing to do with the content of the books, but the physical makeup of the books themselves – some of them may contain high levels of lead.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC wants children’s books printed before 1986 removed from shelves while the agency investigates levels of lead in the ink used in many old picture books.
The CPSC says there’s little danger of lead poisoning from the old books, but it’s asking the nation’s libraries to get rid of them just to be on the safe side.
…The CPSC request is voluntary, but it may become part of a law that would mandate it. No word on an exact date of when that may happen.
WHA?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!!
- 1. This would eliminate 99.9% of the books currently in print!!!!! What would we be left with??? Modern propaganda and novels filled with women in sexy lingerie , that’s what!
- 2. I have been reading these antiquated, lead-loaded books ALL MY LIFE and I TURNED OUT JUST FINE!!!!
OK, maybe that’s not a good argument….. *mutter mutter* But WAIT, there’s more!!!
- 3. “Some” “may” contain “high levels of lead.” What a crock! Eliminate all the books first, then check them?? Idiotic!! Stupid!!
- 4. This is highly suspicious because it is a federal agency doing this. And they “may” make it MANDATORY?! Heck, let’s skip the pretensions– just have a great big bonfire, Feds! Come on, we know your true intentions, here. Yeah, they mock Cat in the Hat, but how about 1984? How about all those original writings of the founding fathers and etc? How about Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? Gone With the Wind? Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Should we expect a Book Squad to enter our neighborhoods? I can see it now– squads of armed, helmeted men in bullet-proof vests raiding homes and libraries across the nation, confiscating the DEADLY books. It’s all for the CHILDREN, mind you!
The idiotics in our bureaucracies never cease to amaze me! Is there no end to their ineptitude and stupid, inane ideas?
March 24th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Give me a break! I’m with you… I’ve been handling these books all my life and seem to have a brain cell or two left. (As opposed to those who maybe haven’t handled enough books?)
March 24th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Yup, this is the same law that will put small, handmade toy makers out of business, also on the premise of lead. Nice,huh?
March 24th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Never overestimate the intelligence of our leaders as they “protect” us from dangers real and imagined.
March 24th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
God help us all! As you say, perhaps there are too many people who haven’t read enough books!
Build a bonfire – shades of Fahrenheit 451.
March 24th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
I’d rather read a lead filled book than no books at all. And I suspect that any damage done by the possible lead in the books is made up for by the actual knowledge gained by reading an actual book. No, there is no end to their ineptitude and inane ideas.
March 24th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Let’s see. I’ve barely put down a book, lead-filled and otherwise, since elementary school, and yet I somehow managed to graduate from both college and law school. My sister, in comparison, only uses books as coasters and door stoppers. She doesn’t read them. Furthermore, the only thing that she has a degree in is sleeping all day, and sometimes I don’t think that she’s even bright enough to walk and chew gum at the same time. So you tell me, who is that lead-filled book hurting? Certainly not the person who is reading it. Now maybe if someone like my sister trips on the book and stubs her toe…
Seriously, doesn’t the government have enough problems to solve right now with the economy without going after one of the few things that still give people joy?
March 24th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
It’s no wonder that so many people are illiterate today…scare tactics like this.
March 24th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Incredible! Now this administration is banning books too? I linked back to this.
March 24th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
I wrote to my congressman about how this law is going to kill American cottage industry, not to mention how it will affect schools, libraries and antique dealers. His response, “Well, we’ve made some alterations for the resale and thrift shops and that’s good.” He totally disregarded my comments. I know a couple of people who contacted their congressmen and senators (my senator didn’t even respond to my letter) and were basically told, “You obviously don’t care about children!” They have no idea that the people who have made these childrens’ items have done so specifically because the US was importing tainted and toxic toys from other countries and they didn’t want that garbage for their kids!
Sorry, preaching to the choir here, but it just burns my butt that they don’t listen to their constituents!
March 25th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Just another example of government “knee-jerking” a reaction to a real problem (Chinese lead contamination) by creating a new problem.
Somehow, I don’t see many libraries following the request.
March 26th, 2009 at 6:52 am
No kidding, this is SO stupid! I totally agree with you. Things are just getting nuttier all the time. It’s unbelievable what agencies deem important sometimes.