California To Drop State Rock Over Asbestos Concerns 256
Posted
by
Soulskill
from the your-tax-dollars-at-work dept.
from the your-tax-dollars-at-work dept.
Diamonddavej writes "The LA Times reports that Californian legislators are close to dropping the translucent green rock Serpentine as the state rock of California because of its tenuous association with chrysotile asbestos. Sen. Gloria Romero declares in her bill (SB 624) that Serpentine should be dropped as California's state rock because it 'contains the deadly mineral chrysotile asbestos, a known carcinogen, exposure to which increases the risk of the cancer mesothelioma.' The bill has backing from mesothelioma support groups. Critics point out that Serpentine is a group of 20 different minerals, and Californian Serpentine rarely contains much chrysotile, never mind its dangerous fibrous asbestos form. Its is suspected that lawyers involved in asbestos compensation claims and cleanup companies will profit from the bill. Vast tracts of California where bedrock is made of Serpentine could be declared hazardous to health... even if it contains no crysotile at all! It looks like SB 624 will be passed; it won unanimous bi-partisan support from an Assembly committee last week."
Unanimous bi-partisan support... (Score:5, Interesting)
Why is it that every time I read the words "Unanimous bi-partisan support", the result is always and without exception... Trouble?
State rock assignments are dangerous! (Score:3, Interesting)
lots of fraud around asbestos (Score:5, Interesting)
Lawyers are one of the biggest areas of fraud and corruption the US right now. In a lot of states, the attorney general sets up a pay-to-play system where they get kickbacks to let certain law firms handle certain legal issues (or even pursue cases that normally would be ignored). In other cases, lawyer lobby organizations try to get laws written in vague ways that will require extra legal work, or as in this case, create potential lawsuits where there doesn't seem to even be danger.
Re:Pet rock (Score:5, Interesting)
Which leaves one question: (Score:4, Interesting)
Who exactly was drunk enough to come up with the idea of a state rock in the first place?
MOD PARENT UP (Score:1, Interesting)
Took the words right out of my mouth. According to Wikipedia, the following state insignia exist: amphibian, beverage, bird, butterfly, color, crustacean, dance, dinosaur, fish, flag, flower, food, fossil, grass, insect, instrument, license plate, mammal, mineral, motto, nickname, poem, poet laureate, reptile, route marker, seal, shell, ship, slogan, soil, song, sport, tartan, toy and tree.
OK, I can understand flag, license plate, motto, route marker and seal. I can understand the nickname (although why it's apparently official is beyond me). I probably could understand the slogan if I knew how it differs from a motto.
But the rest? I mean... grass? Tartan? Crustacean? I'm not from the USA, so can somebody explain to me what the point of these is?
Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:3, Interesting)
Wikipedia forgot 'question.'
Yes, New Mexico has a State question.
Re:In other news... (Score:3, Interesting)
In other news, goofy Californians fiddle with state rocks while their budget burns, note water still wet film at 11.
Of course, you cannot use that water to put out the fire because it might threaten another species of smelt or a snail somewhere...
Re:Unanimous bi-partisan support... (Score:3, Interesting)
California also rank the the highest GDP (13% or 1.8 Trillion) of the US. Texas ranks #2 with 1.2 Trillion. New York ranks #3.
If California falls, the entire US will take a major hit. At least business in silicon valley are starting to move to Austin, TX. They see the hand writing on the wall. That, and UT is full of talented minds to feed the industry.
Re:Hmmm... (Score:2, Interesting)
Halite dust actually has some theurapeutic effects: http://www.salt-therapypipe.com/background-of-treatment.asp [salt-therapypipe.com]
And it's not like you can easily breathe a lethal concentration of salt.