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Supersized nanny state
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/30/5 | Debra J Saunders

Posted on 08/30/2005 8:59:21 AM PDT by SmithL

AMERICA has become the country of the warning label. California is the warning-label state. Since California voters in 1986 approved Proposition 65 -- which mandates warnings when people are exposed to known carcinogens or chemicals that cause birth defects -- to live in California is to be warned. Most office buildings and parking garages post Prop. 65 warnings. When you fill your gas tank, there's a warning. When you go to a department store or a restaurant, there are warnings. Ditto the grocery store, where there are warnings not just about lighter fluid, nail polish and the effects of alcohol, but for fruits and vegetables, nuts and fish.

Now, if Attorney General Bill Lockyer has his way, you can expect warning labels for fast-food french fries and potato chips.

If he succeeds, the Legislature might as well post a billboard at the border that says: Eating in California can be hazardous to your health.

In these tight fiscal times, you'd think Lockyer could find a better use of taxpayer money than to spend it in a push to warn the public about something any high-school student knows. French fries are bad for you.

But never passing a chance for a good press release, Lockyer filed a lawsuit against a number of fast-food chains and junk-food producers because their french fries and potato chips contain trace amounts of acrylamide -- a chemical also found in asparagus and olives, it is a natural byproduct of cooking certain starchy foods.

While Lockyer is alarmed, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration isn't sure acrylamide is bad for you. In March, the FDA issued a press release that stated, "Acrylamide can cause cancer in laboratory animals at high doses, although it is not clear whether it causes cancer in humans at the much lower levels

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dangerdangerdanger; dangerwillrobinson; warningwarning; warningwarningwarnin
Lockyer needs his own warning - right across his brow: Village Idiot.
1 posted on 08/30/2005 8:59:21 AM PDT by SmithL
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To: SmithL

Blame the tobacco trials, they started this. America has developed a culture where people refuse to take responsibility for their actions. This Lockyer is just the end result of a process that began a generation ago.


2 posted on 08/30/2005 9:05:21 AM PDT by Lejes Rimul (Paleo and Proud)
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To: Lejes Rimul

"Blame the tobacco trials, they started this"

Or the silicone breast implant trials, or the asbestos trials, or the....


3 posted on 08/30/2005 9:12:46 AM PDT by Pessimist
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To: SmithL
the Legislature might as well post a billboard at the border that says: Eating in California can be hazardous to your health.

That is a classic!

When I moved to CA 10 years ago, my apartment complex in Walnut Creek posted warnings in the tenent handbook about the hazards of drinking the water and a number of other things.

I thought, " what did I get into?"

Living in California is a hazard. And that is warning to all, hehehe :).

4 posted on 08/30/2005 9:15:26 AM PDT by A message (Only unity will defeat terrorism - do you hear me Democrats? Do you hear me?)
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To: Lejes Rimul
America has developed a culture where people refuse to take responsibility for their actions

Sadly, you are all too correct.

5 posted on 08/30/2005 9:16:37 AM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it.)
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To: SmithL
Ditto the grocery store, where there are warnings not just about lighter fluid, nail polish and the effects of alcohol, but for fruits and vegetables, nuts and fish.

I seem to remember a story about a boy who cried wolf.

6 posted on 08/30/2005 9:18:11 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Bork should have had Kennedy's USSC seat and Kelo v. New London would have gone the other way.)
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To: SmithL

I haven't checked in several years, but I remember going into a mini-mart and being struck by the number of these warnings on the glass around the door. Hey, if it makes Californians feel good about themselves, that's the key thing. It is far easier than taking meaningful steps to fix any real problem.


7 posted on 08/30/2005 9:20:14 AM PDT by Tacis ("Democrats - The Party of Traitors, Treachery and Treason!")
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To: SmithL

The apartment building I recently moved out of in CA (and all others) have a long list of chemicals posted that "might" be in use in the facility, for pesticide or other use. They essentially list everything under the sun and they they are "covered."

No notification of what chemicals are actually being used or what the levels might be. Despite considerable experience working with or around chemicals, I cannot figure out what possible use the posted list might be to anyone.


8 posted on 08/30/2005 9:21:11 AM PDT by Restorer (Liberalism: the auto-immune disease of democracies.)
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To: Lejes Rimul; All

Funny thing is, these are the same shurbs when people acutally took responsiblty for their own actions. I mean people smoked, drank, and eat till there was no tomorrow. Now we have generation of weenies who think that they have every right to butt in... Yet they complain about how conservatives want to tell people how to live.. I think people should mind their own business.


9 posted on 08/30/2005 9:26:44 AM PDT by KevinDavis (the space/future belongs to the eagles --> http://www.cafepress.com/kevinspace1)
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To: Restorer
I cannot figure out what possible use the posted list might be to anyone.

You need to consult with a class action attorney :)

10 posted on 08/30/2005 9:49:04 AM PDT by angkor
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To: SmithL

When will they warn about the dimethyl mercury in tuna fish sandwiches?


11 posted on 08/30/2005 9:50:12 AM PDT by The Red Zone (Florida, the sun-shame state, and Illinois the chicken injun.)
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To: KevinDavis
Now we have generation of weenies who think that they have every right to butt in...

There was an extreme weenie CNN report last night, discussing the allegedly "risky behavior" of allegedly "obese" NFL football players.

12 posted on 08/30/2005 9:51:57 AM PDT by angkor
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To: The Red Zone
When will they warn about the dimethyl mercury in tuna fish sandwiches?

How about MSG in Chinese restaurants?

13 posted on 08/30/2005 9:52:43 AM PDT by angkor
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To: SmithL

Nail that sign to his forehead with a 2x4 and a handful of ten penny nails.


14 posted on 08/30/2005 10:09:31 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (Anyone who needs to be persuaded to be free, doesn't deserve to be. -El Neil)
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To: SmithL
Ah. . .but when will Lockyer confront the very real dangers of. . . .Di-hydrogen monoxide
15 posted on 08/30/2005 10:19:20 AM PDT by Salgak (Acme Lasers presents: The Energizer Border: I dare you to try and cross it. . .)
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To: Salgak

Aliso Viejo, in Orange County, CA was the first city to confront that danger.


16 posted on 08/30/2005 10:22:27 AM PDT by SmithL (There are a lot of people that hate Bush more than they hate terrorists)
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