The Requisite Poison Toy Scare
by ilene - December 7th, 2009 12:26 am
The Requisite Poison Toy Scare
Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker
Of course it’s the Zhu Zhu "pets"….
Antimony was measured at 93 parts per million in the hamster’s fur and at 106 parts per million in its nose. Both readings exceed the allowable level of 60 parts per million, said O’Rourke, an associate professor of environmental science at the University of California, Berkeley.
And this is the story…. why?
Let’s play this one straight up the middle, ok?
A pet is a living thing. It breathes, it eats, it sleeps and it craps. You take care of it – thus, the term "pet" – because in the environment you keep it (whether in a house, in a cage, in an aquarium, etc) if you don’t, it dies.
"Zhu Zhu" things are not pets. They are mechanical. They are collections of synthetic and mineral non-living things. They run on batteries, not food. They crap nothing. And, unless you step on them or they break, they do not "die".
Caring for a pet is one of the things that children used to do. It is one of the means by which parents taught children that not all that glitters is gold, not all that you play with comes without cost. Indeed, pets come with a very real cost, not only monetarily to purchase them (in some cases) but in their upkeep and care, often including vet visits, vaccinations and the like. Due to the fact that they are living organisms you must provide them with sustenance and remove or manage their waste. These things become obligations when one takes on a pet. Further, when irritated some pets can cause some degree of harm. Hamsters, when provoked, do bite.
Who among us flushed "fishie" when he passed? Buried a cat or dog – or hamster? Took the dog for a walk (so it could relieve itself), cleaned a catbox, changed a fish tank filter (those are NASTY!) or cleaned the cage of a hamster, gerbil or parakeet?
What is wrong with us in this country? How can we equate those lessons of growing up with buying a cheap plastic piece of trash from China?
Never mind that the company that developed the toy,…