ceallachain Loc: Cape May, NJ

make mine Grey Goose

srg

👍🤣😂

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

Oh yeah, ethylene glycol is colorless. In the 1950s I worked at a a chemical plant near Detroit that made it and formulated various brands of antifreeze for clients. Believe it or not, the actual color of the product was the most important factor in its manufacture and was the item most closely checked.

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

The chemical plant I worked at also made propylene glycol. I think it was used in detergents.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

Also used for swimming pool systems, cosmetics to name a few things

BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten

Sippy, you are a Nut! And I mean that in the most complimentary of ways!

Reuss Griffiths Loc: Ravenna, Ohio

I guess I'm at a loss for why ethylene glycol sealed inside a snow globe would raise issues about toxicity. I'm never seen a leaking snow globe. If it breaks, and the ethylene glycol ends up on the floor, you wipe it up and be done with it. In this scenario, while the material is toxic, it's not hazardous because liklihood of ingesting it is remote.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Beer freezes, though. I've had it pop the tops off bottles when left outside and it froze - not in the summer, though.

pendennis

Manufacturers, especially in the U.S, are the objects of countless litigation actions, and they tend to over-design and over-engineer when it comes to safety. One can never underestimate the abject stupidity of the consumer.

In my first commercial law class, there were two case studies which have stayed with me. The first involved a man who decided to use his lawn mower as a hedge trimmer. This was in the days before the dead-man's lever. He lost his balance, and somehow got his hands under the mower deck, losing fingers on each hand. He sued the lawnmower manufacturer, but lost in local court. He appealed and eventually won the appeal. The lawnmower manufacturer ended up paying 100's of thousands of dollars (damages, legal and court fees, etc.).

The second was a bit more odd. It seems a company decided to scrap a stamping press which no longer fit their needs. They took bids from scrappers, and finally sold it. The scrappers were bound by contract to destroy the press. The scrapper instead, sold the obsolete press to a third party. The third party decided to modify the press by removing the two-hand safety feature of the press, and an employee lost both hands in an incident. The employee sued everyone who ever touched the press, including the manufacturer, the second party which scrapped the press, and scrapper, and his own employer. He lost, but then won as appeals worked their way up to Federal courts. The logic by the court (?) was that the second party should have ensured that the press was indeed scrapped, and that it could not be "brought back to life". The interlocking lawsuits drug on for years.

ceallachain Loc: Cape May, NJ

What’s wrong with the legal system? This is certainly one for law schools to ponder

pendennis

As designed, there's nothing wrong with our legal system per se. It's the abuse of the system that causes problems.

There are any number of lawsuits filed which shouldn't see the inside of a courtroom, other than being rejected. However, judges don't like to be second-guessed as a rule, so they tend to move lawsuits along which to you and me, have utterly no merits. The more popular support judges can get, the more likely they'll be re-elected, and we all know that the first order of business for pols is to get re-elected. The donning of a black robe never imparts wisdom to the wearer.

We see it in the Detroit area all the time. Perp gets into a shoot-out after he robs a liquor store, gets killed in the shoot-out, and his relatives sue the PD for $50 million. Usually the city will settle out of court because juries in Wayne County Michigan tend to favor complainants. There's one pending now, where the perp was schizoid, pulled a knife and charged police. They killed him, yet the PD was supposed to have known the guy was schizoid. A prominent local ambulance chaser has filed a lawsuit for $50 million.

Reuss Griffiths Loc: Ravenna, Ohio

The reason I raised the issue in the first place is that the LD50 for ethylene glycol is for humans via ingestion (based on mice) is about 100 ml or 3 ounces. In order for someone to ingest this much from a broken snow globe would be to crack a hole in it and drink it out. While not impossible, it's hard to imagine that would happen. That's why I made the comment that while it's toxic, no reasonable hazard exists.

I think what you're saying is that the real hazard here are attorneys.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's what I cannot understand. What about personal responsibility? Yes, it's awful that the worker has no hands, but he should sue the person who removed the safety features.

Years ago, I worked on a tourist ship in the summer. We were all told that we should never attempt to help someone in a wheelchair. That's not our job, and we weren't trained how to do it properly. We would be just as likely to dump the person on the ground as to help him get up a step. Still, workers on the ship occasionally lifted wheelchairs.

Unfortunately, anyone can be sued for anything.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

The reason that ethylene glycol is poisonous is because we have an enzyme in our liver. It is called Alcohol Dehydrogenase. It metabolizes alcohol to be excreted by the kidneys. However, ethylene glycol although chemically similar is eventually metabolized to oxalic acid which is toxic to the brain. It is excreted by the kidneys much slower causing kidney stones. The human body continues to have the toxin remain until all organs shut down.
Previously, patients were given intravenously administered ethyl alcohol to displace the effects of the toxic metabolites.A drug known as Fomepizole shuts down the metabolizing enzyme and the toxin is excreted unchanged. The patient remains in the intensive care unit until all toxins are removed.
I met Dr. Robert Hoffman and Dr. Lewis Goldfrank at Bellevue Hospital. They wrote THE book on emergency medicine. To me, they are Super Doctors.
Granted, I made this explanation simple for everyone.
Now it is required to have a bitterant added to ethylene glycol or have production replaced with propylene glycol which is naturally very bitter.

When you are walking your dog always carry water. The dog will smell the ethylene glycol drained from the car’s radiator and proceed to lick it up. That is how they die too.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Thanks for the information.