California’s Bad ‘Cup of Joe’

American Spectator ^ | April 5, 2018 | Steven Greenhut

[Twotone]

As civilization “grows more maudlin and hysterical” it tends “to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes,” argued H.L. Mencken. He added that “the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.” It’s hard to argue with those points, especially in light of the latest court battle over California’s zany public-health laws.

Last week, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle ruled that Starbucks and other coffee retailers are in hot water because they don’t slap labels on coffee warning that drinking it might cause cancer, birth defects, or risks to drinkers’ reproductive health. The effects could be severe: California coffee companies face penalties of $2,500 for every person who has been exposed to unlabeled coffee since 1986, when voters approved something known as Proposition 65.

Some companies have agreed to post warning signs and pay millions of dollars in fines, but Starbucks and the remaining defendants have another week to file objections.

[pepsionice]

I don’t see how you avoid not putting the same warning labels on potato chips, ketchup packets, or jars of peanut butter.

[Flick Lives]

I use to think Mencken was a cynic. Now I think he was an optimist.

[bigdaddy45]

Liberals fighting liberals. The best response is to pull up a chair.

[null and void]

[Lurker]

“California coffee companies face penalties of $2,500 for every person who has been exposed to unlabeled coffee since 1986,”

Government: “We see you have some money. Give it to us.”

L

[Reno89519]

California needs a simple generic label for everything:

California has determined that anything you do, think, say, touch, hear, ingest, smell, or see can cause cancer. Be afraid, deathly afraid.

[robel]

They need to issue a warning to people that entering california, primarily the coastal areas, may seriously affect their mental health.

[mowowie]

How about to save money only require labels on products that DO NOT cause cancer

[Sans-Culotte]

California coffee companies face penalties of $2,500 for every person who has been exposed to unlabeled coffee since 1986, when voters approved something known as Proposition 65. Some companies have agreed to post warning signs and pay millions of dollars in fines, but Starbucks and the remaining defendants have another week to file objections.

I do not understand why coffee companies do business in California at all. If they have to pay those fines, I doubt they will generate enough profit to overcome that loss. They, and many other companies should simply leave California.