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February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
March 16, 2005
/ 5 Adar II, 5765
When warnings make us less safe
By
John Stossel
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
It's dangerous to swallow a fishing lure.
Thanks for the warning, counselor. I was thinking about snacking
on the thing. It works so well for the fish.
As litigation prompts businesses to add ever more ludicrous
labels to their products (in cringing, desperate hope that the labels will
protect them from lawsuits, which they won't), Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch
tracks the worst warnings. There's one on those shades people put on their
windshields to keep their cars from getting hot when parked in the sun. Now,
shades have a label that says: "Remove shade from windshield" before
driving.
Driving with the shade blocking the windshield must be nearly as
difficult as drying your hair in your sleep. But someone thinks we need to
be warned about that, too there is a "Do not use while asleep" label on
some hair blowers. There's even a warning on Garfield the cat back
massagers: "Do not use when unconscious!"
There may be people for whom such warnings could be useful:
people who shop for dental equipment in hardware stores (warning on a power
drill: "Not intended for use as a dental drill") and protective gear in card
shops (warning on birthday candles: "Do not use soft wax as ear plugs").
Most of us, when we buy a CD rack with lots of little wires
designed to hold the little plastic disks and their little plastic cases,
don't need to be told not to use it as a ladder. Too bad: We are told
anyway.
Twenty years ago, the sovereign people of California decided the
world was too dangerous. By a 2-1 vote in a referendum, they demanded that a
warning label be affixed to any product sold in California containing a
chemical the state had determined could cause cancer or reproductive
problems even though such chemicals appear everywhere in nature and even
though there was no evidence that trace amounts in products are harmful.
Even if the product was something no reasonable person would
swallow, say, a lead bullet, California law now requires a warning: Harmful
if swallowed. Which brings us back to the fishing lures. Karen Eppinger's
family has been making its Dardevle lures in Michigan for nearly a century.
They carry only a trace amount of lead. I doubt that you could get one down
your throat. Even if you could, you'd have to swallow many lures to get
enough lead to hurt you.
But with parasitic lawyers spreading fear, all that didn't
matter. Eppinger's own lawyers had her in a panic. "Wal-Mart was being sued;
Cabela's and Bass Pro were being threatened with lawsuits," she told ABC
News. "The brass lures going into California did not have a warning label to
not eat them." Eppinger quickly moved to re-label and re-box her lures at a
cost of more than $10,000.
The fear of that terrible lawsuit causes companies to cower in
fear. The power-drill maker who is warning us not to apply his drills to our
teeth told us that every warning is based on real litigation.
And real litigation costs real money. Even if a company wins, it
loses, because it has to pay expensive defense lawyers. In some cases, it
has to pay the lawyers who sued it.
Where do these companies get the money to spend on lawyers and
labels? From you and me, of course, in higher prices.
It might be worth it if it made us safer. But it doesn't. When
we are surrounded by warnings we don't need to read, we don't read the
warnings that might make us safer. We ought to read the warning on the
antibiotic that says, "Don't take with milk." Take it with milk, and it
won't work. But who reads drug labels anymore? I don't, because they're too
long. There are 41 warnings on stepladders now. This doesn't make us safer.
So next time someone tells you that you need more law to keep
you safe, remember: Fear of lawsuits mostly drowns us in paperwork and
distracts us from information that would make us safer. Fear of the lawyers
makes us less safe.
Give Me a Break.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
STOSSEL'S LATEST
Give Me a Break
Stossel explains how ambitious bureaucrats, intellectually lazy reporters, and greedy lawyers make your life worse even as they claim to protect your interests. Taking on such sacred cows as the FDA, the War on Drugs, and scaremongering environmental activists -- and backing up his trademark irreverence with careful reasoning and research -- he shows how the problems that government tries and fails to fix can be solved better by the extraordinary power of the free market. Sales help fund JWR.
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JWR contributor John Stossel is co-anchor of ABC News' "20/20." To comment, please click here.
03/09/05: Gasoline prices 2005: An inflation-adjusted bargain
03/02/05: Washington's labor laws now hurt children more than they protect them
02/23/05: Outsourcers are the bigger job creators?
02/16/05: Selfishness is bad, right?
02/09/05: Fifth Avenue farmers
02/02/05: Buy a bridge? This $200 Million one isn't for sale it's being paid for by taxpayers and it leads almost nowhere
01/28/05: Aren't science and scholarship supposed to ask questions and open our eyes to facts?
01/26/05: Forced altruism
© 2005, by JFS Productions, Inc.
Distributed by Creators Syndicate, Inc.
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