Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comBed Bath and Beyond recalls tissue holder on radiation worry
Seeded on Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:57 PM EST (msnbc.com)
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Most smoke detectors contain radioactive americium-241. There's no real way to dispose of them safely. (Although you would have to work at it to get a damaging dose of radiation from one.) Similarly, florescent lights contain mercury and few of them are recycled. I took one back to the store that sold it once and the store manager said, "So? Sounds like a personal problem to me."
On the other hand, there is at least the glimmer of hope that we're starting to realize that there is a down side to treating our world like a sewer pipe here in America. In places like India and China, they haven't figured that out yet. They may poison themselves to death even before climate change gets all of us.
so you're saying some products are radioactive... are you implying that ALL products that emit low levels of radiation are safe? if so, why was this innocuous tissue holder PULLED FROM THE SHELVES?
if it IS safe, why not identify it and leave it where it is?
You have to keep in mind that radiation and radioactive material (just like anything else that has the potential to harm) is not a black-and-white safe-or-not-safe thing. There is an entire spectrum from perfectly safe to perfectly deadly.
In the case of the smoke detector, there is a small risk associated with having a quantity of Americium-241 in your house. But the upside is that smoke detectors save hundreds or thousands of lives each year. The risk is worth taking for that upside.
In the case of the tissue holder, the risk from the radiation might be exactly the same as the smoke detector (or even lower, perhaps). But there is no upside. So why take the risk, no matter how small? Pull them from the shelves and eliminate the risk since there's no reason not to.
Today's society, especially younger people, fails to understand and apply the risk/reward equation to anything. This leads to black-and-white interpretations, 2-dimensional thinking, and wild tangents of things like conspiracy theories.
But I don't hang the toliet paper with which I wipe my ass on the smoke detector! Sounds like a problem with Uranusum 235 to me
Smoke detectors have a radioactive symbol on the part that contains it, while smoke detector does not, and that means that a person who is re-cycling it could be in danger.
Probably because explaining it to the public would have been more trouble than what it was worth. Most people think the incredible Hulk and cancer before thinking harmless.
All that radioactive TP would get you really clean though, not much survives that...Surprised they didn't just use that for a new marketing angle...
I've also heard that granite countertops emit Radon, but that doesn't seem to stop people from installing them.
"why not identify it and leave it where it is."
One word: Politics.
Plus radioactive materials are necessary for a smoke detector to function, it serves no purpose in a tissue holder. So as punishment to maker and distributors...
granite counter tops, brick houses both emit radiation---still would like both.
Its been years but we had the same problem it the US. Radioactive recycled steel coming from Mexico. It turned out that radioactive cobalt from medical equipment that had been improperly disposed of by hospitals in the US had been sent to a Mexican steel recyclers. The steel yard was closed and it took years to clean up.
That's one way of recycling radioactive materials. Makes it easier find find the objects in the dark too.
I'll bet the Republican/Tea Party is against all government regulation of radioactive materials because according to them ALL regulation is "bad for business"........idiots!
Banana's emit radiation... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15288975
@ MarineDoc
So does your computer screen. There's this funny little thing called dosage you may also want to research Doc...oh! and TYPE of radiation as well.
^_^
In your haste to be a smarta$$, either you neglected to read the link that I left, or I don't know what, because you completely missed the point of my post.
An intelligent person would have clicked on the BBC article and found that it discusses such things as dosage, and puts it into perspective that the average person might understand.
I'm going to roll my eyes a bit, I'm sure you understand why.
@ MarineDoc
You're driving me bananas!
~18 bananas at least.
how many more bananas until I become the Incredible Hulk?
^_^
Anyway, sorry for the frustration. I did read your link, I was just being snarky
Let me guess: Made in China.
Incorporation of small amounts of radioactive materials into things like tissue holders and compact cars is a safe and efficient way to dispose of low level radioactive waste.
Cornmeal-
The name says it all.
oooh oooh ooh!
What does mine say?
And now the Mighty jaBENO will read your name, and tell you what it says.
Studies have shown that people will eat hot dogs no matter what is on the ingredients label. Which leads to my proposal for the disposal of nuclear waste...
Definitely not made in China. Since they cover all their exports in lead, no one would have ever detected the radiation if it was there.
@ ThaPyngwyn
No, you are forgetting about Chinese drywall. That was radioactive.
@ ClamChop
Obligated?
Dare I ask, but "Made in Japan"?
Just paint that Chinese drywall with the same paint the Chinese use on children's toys, and the radiation won't bother you a bit.
@ ThaPyngwyn
And the melamine in my infant's baby formula will protect 'em when he licks the walls and graduates to eating whole paint chips.
The Chinese are brilliant!
B, B & B was nuking those pesky Klingons!
They should just start selling Geiger counters now.
Let me guess, it was made in China. Cheap prices always come with a cost. It will either fall apart, or kill you, or both.
floyd - Your analysis so extremely flawed. We have thousands of products that are less expensive than US made brands and actually have a higher quality.
I am not suggesting we buy more goods from China but I am pointing out that many of their products are of high quality and less expensive than US goods.
The only reason that certain Chinese products are less expensive than the US counterparts is because of the artificial depression of the Chinese currency by the Chinese government. The actual costs to produce the product are the same.
Sooner or later, the Chinese people will demand the same standard of living that the US population enjoys and the currency exchange rates will no longer be advantageous. Those products will cease to be less expensive here.
Joyce........................Name one.
@ Dan-2358143
I'm so glad that other people get it!
Most people don't seem to realize the reason why US businesses are going overseas, and why China is a sink-hole for international outsourcing endeavors.
The US's currency is ridiculously over-valued, and the Chinese currency is being ridiculously suppressed.
We should buy "great" crap from China no matter how many people they poison to produce it. It's better than generating pollution here because it can't spread, right?
I personally enjoy the mercury flavor in my tuna, thank you very much!
What was their first clue that there was a problem? People using the bathroom at night were glowing when they returned to bed?
By chance, were these manufactured in China?
@ Joyce-4263422
I'm hard-pressed to find a product in Bed Bath that's actually made anywhere else (except maybe India or Malaysia).
They are like Walmart
Nice deceptive headline...."Radiation-spewing"....come on editors...is this blatant fear-mongering or what?
People will panic and remove any tissue holders from all their bathrooms and go back to using the Sears catalog. Oops Sears doesn't have a catalog any more, now what?
I've been using my radium tissue box for over a year!
I don't even need to shave anymore! Anywhere!
What a savings!
Agreed! That headline is blatantly misleading, sensational journalism worthy of the sleaziest tabloid.
This is how China gets rid of it's low level nuclear waste! Send it to the stupid Americans.
Nice photo of a Bed Bath and Beyond store, what does the tissue holder look like?
Agreed!
We didn't even get the obligatory
"This is what a tissue holder looks like"
I thought the whole point of a news story on a product recall as unusual as this, we'd at least know which product of which brand.
That's some nice reporting there, Lou!
Hopefully it's a silver or gold decorative piece that only the wealthy can afford because they made so much money SHIPPING OUR JOBS TO INDIA!
http://www.mde.state.md.us/programs/PressRoom/Pages/011312.aspx
@Paul, Floyd, and Allen. . .what happens when one ASSume?
"The product is manufactured in India."
In any case, we should get rid of all these regulatory agencies like the NRC, FDA, USDA, EPA, etc. What good has these big government busy body nosey nanny agencies done for Americans? Let the free market reign. . .until crap like this happens and those same whiny people start to complain about lack of government oversight to protect American consumers. . .
BTW, here's what these holders look like: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57358649/tissue-holders-pulled-over-radiation-fears/
yep, let unregulated food from china get to your kids...hope they like antifreeze and industrial waste...
Thank you for the link to the picture
It is a silver metal kleenex box...Wow
Where did they get the metal The folks in India ? Must be some heck of a recycling program huh ? India is a cesspool in many places. Of course if you believe in a vedic system if someone dies of radiation they are punished for something they have done in a previous life so its all good so it is the destiny of karma..
I don't think so...so now we need to have a radiation counter at the border checking goods and imports. way to go NAFTA..
And yes us young people can only see black or white because you know its good to have a lttle radiation in our life ? a reply to a poster above..
psychofan, thanks for looking that up and filling in the blanks. Made in India, folks. Not China.
readabook
If you could read, you would know that India and China have nothing to do with NAFTA. But hey other members of the Ron family all use it wrond, so why not you.
As for where India got that steel, good chance it came from the US.
Really?! HUH?
And pray tell what US steel industry are you referring to?
So India is buying expensive US-milled steel, having it shipped clear across the Midwest US to a Pacific port, where it is then shipped in billets clear across the Pacific, through the Philippines, all the way to the Indian Ocean, to be processed into shiny little trinkets for shipment back to the hipsters and soccer mom's perusing the aisles of Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Surely India has NO steel mills of their own, nor would they EVER buy from China...just being on the other side of the Himalayas...ESPECIALLY since Chinese steel is so heavily subsidized that most members of the WTO have banned the sale of Chinese steel over their dumping in international markets.
It's gotta be US steel
HAHAHAHAHA
You're completely beyond hope...look at a map
If it comes from the US, it is probably scrap which they remelt and and reuse.
readabook
I thought
FatherHomeland Security had that covered?Seriously? No...Really?!
Where do think old ships and other large items go to be scrapped? You know things filled with asbestos, lead paint, and other things we now know are unsafe, watch some news now and then and you will see it is india.
BTW I never said it had to be US steel, and having a steel mill requires either scrap or ore to make it from. And I am sure China scraps its own used up military equipment.
@ edward-2830446
Fair enough! I stand corrected ^_^
Made in China, no doubt.
Or Iran...
Or North Korea...
Or in our backyard...
I knew it! Canada!
They always seemed so nice! Why would they be lacing their products with radioactive substances.
Effing Eh?!
Better run a counter over that BC Bud Eh?!
"C", eh? "N", eh? "D", eh?
What's this all aboot anyway
Their marketing department could've touted it as a built-in antibiotic; "kill tissue germs without all the nasty goop!"
BTW your grandmother's glow-in-the-dark radium-dial alarm clock probably emits more radiation than these things.
"nor can it contaminate other objects" ---uhhh, unless you're the object. I guess people don't deserve a mention here, only profit$$$$
Won't somebody please think of the profit margins?!
Why do you hate America?
Executives need to feed their families, mistresses, and bastard children too!
EXCELLENT bumper sticker "Won't somebody please think of the profit!" LOL Love it almost as much as "GMO's, plastic food for plastic people" or "proud parent of a monsanto lab rat"
@ DougCoe22201
LOL
Ahhhh, good times!
Can I trade one in for a trip through the x-ray machine at the airport?
Exactly! The government keeps telling us the machines use only low emiting radiation. BS....The workers who run these machines do not have any credentials to use the machines and they do not wear any badge to see how much radiation they are getting everyday and wear no lead or eye protection. I see lawsuits in years to come. I have a degree in Radiology and I will take the pat down any day over the scanners.
@ Kelly-1458728
Yeah. Pat down for me as well...but I do it because I crave the attention
LOL
How about a picture of the holder, or a manufacturer name and model number?
You think the holder might possibly be made in China?
Follow the link posted in comment #9 for a picture.
The radioactive material, Cobalt 60.
So made in India, not USA.
was this so called "item" imported ? who makes it ? why was it not found earlier ? and btw , we don't need a regulatory agency ?
Of course not! People wouldn't have gotten cancer from this for at least 20 years, and by that point, they would have gotten cancer from something anyway. Recalling this product is unnecessary and just a ridiculous interference in what would otherwise be an efficient market!
If the product was seriously poisonous, enough people would have died and their next of kin would have given bad product reviews that would have caused the stores to pull the product from shelves so that an equally cheap, and slightly less poisonous product could take its place.
The invisible hand giveth, and the invisible had taketh away!
hehehe
Ron Paul 2012???
what. the. FACK?
It would have been nice if they would have included a picture of the tissue holder so we can see if it is something we own. Not enough info here.
...So, adding to the litany of things we 'cannot' do anymore (breathe the air, eat the food, etc.) is go to the bathroom safely. Boy, we will really not be able to 'breathe the air' soon. LOL
Think I'll just keep my tissue where it always has been, sans dispenser, on the built-in shelf next to my 'throne'...
So if it "EMITS" the radiation HOW can they say it "can't" come into contact with anything else?? ARE WE DUMB??
> ARE WE DUMB??
Yes, you're dumb. (Or at least ignorant on this particular issue.)
Ionizing radiation is all around us. We're exposed to it constantly. What matters is how strong it is and how much of it we're exposed to.
In this case, the radioactive material is incredibly weak -- and it's sealed inside the holder where it can't get out. Yes, the tiny amounts of radiation can get out, but the material itself can't.
What's particularly dangerous is when radioactive material is ingested and stored inside your body for long periods of time. This generally depends on the chemical property of the material -- some go through fast, some are kept for a long time. But if the material can't ever be ingested at all (unless you grind up your tissue holders and eat them) then this can't happen. But even if it did, it probably wouldn't be dangerous -- it's extremely weak, you know.
Fiestaware dishes used to be like this -- the glaze was slightly radioactive. It wasn't dangerous, but people freaked out anyways and now they use something else.
Did you know that bananas are slightly radioactive? Enough so that crates full of them set off the radiation detectors at Customs! But we still eat them, as the level of radioactivity is so small that it's not a danger at all. And they're yummy.
Yep, people seem to fear radiation without even understanding how much they're exposed to in their daily lives. Just don't tell them about the naturally occurring radioactive isotopes in their bodies. All those EVIL carbon and potassium radioactive isotopes.... They'll panic.
What are the odds this crap was made in China? Any bets?
How much are you betting. I'll take you up on it.
That must be how Rudolph got his glowing red nose.
And his leukemia
Wow. If anyone wants a 100% made-in-the-USA tissue holder, convo me on etsydotcom at Lucky Star's Shop or damia1966. I don't have one for sale right now, but after this and the "respect the roll" ads on TV, I'm VERY tempted! Made of wool that's grown in the US, spun and crafted by moi, in the US. Or check Etsy in general. Many good items there. Yes, I seized the opportunity, but I figured it was a chance to say that one CAN find something made here, if one looks.
let's see, they say if you spend about 30 minutes a day for a yr near this thing on your vanity, it's roughly equivalent to a couple of chest x-rays. Well, is getting a couple extra chest x-rays a year really all that great for you? There are plenty of hand crafted wooden holders and dispensers made and sold right here in the USA by craftspeople. I would suggest people that are concerned about where their stuff is made or what it is made from support these people in their small business efforts.
GREAT reporting. A radioactive tissue holder without even including an accompanying photo of the merchandise. Unbelievable!
If it poses no danger, why the recall and why report about it at all?
Because fearmongering draws readers.
There's not even really any reason to stop selling them, but people freak out about radiation -- even minuscule amounts. (Don't tell them what's in a banana!) So it's just easier to stop selling them.