Household insecurity

I don't keep up with these things as I should, but until today I never knew that a supposedly ordinary thermos could be dangerous:

Last year Greenberg was pouring coffee from his Stanley thermos when the handle broke.

"It looked like a smoke bomb going off,” described Greenberg, adding, “It filled up the whole kitchen and the whole living room with a black cloud of smoke."

The Greenberg’s heating system sucked in that black cloud and for two-months a fine black dust fell over everything in their home.

"That's what every wall every surface you took your finger by it, that's what it was like," said Maureen Greenberg.

It cost a staggering $77-thousand to clean up, a bill that Stanley eventually paid.

Yet the Greenbergs were not the only ones whose thermos held a surprise.

Dan Veesenmeyer described his thermos experience saying, "Just pouring it into the cup on the dash and ‘buqwuuuuush’ just come flying right out of there.”

Veesenmeyer's Stanley thermos broke while he was driving his truck.

"It just blew my mind I couldn't believe it the whole truck instantly just black soot you couldn't see nothing," commented Veesenmeyer.

According to Stanley, 654 families across the country have experienced similar problems with their thermoses.

It's no longer just about the mess for the Greenbergs.

"It's almost a year now and we're still dealing with it," said Ron Greenberg.

The Greenberg’s oldest son, Michael is suffering from an unexplained cough.

23 others have reported difficulty breathing or seeing and in some cases began vomiting and coughing after their thermoses broke.

The company says the black powder inside its thermoses is charcoal. The problem is, there is no data to show how toxic charcoal can be when inhaled.

Explosions followed by toxic black clouds causing injuries lasting almost a year?

Better not break one of these things on an airplane.

Or anywhere near an athletic arena.

The company is recalling 45,000 of what I would never call destructive devices. Despite the title -- "3 On Your Side: Exploding Thermos" -- "destructive device" is an explosive legal term which imaginative lawyers could theoretically construe as trade libel. Besides, it is my policy to maintain skepticism -- while remaining open to speculation. (There's a fine line in there somewhere.)

posted by Eric on 10.14.05 at 08:18 AM





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Comments

I hope this doesn't spur some sort of national hypochondria about thermos bottles, of all things. I had a thermos as a kid, and my Dad had a thermos, and we never had any problems with it. Reminds me of the hysteria over peanuts because some miniscule percentage of the population were found to be allergic to them. Reminds me of the story Peikoff told of the man who went to Safeway, bought a quart of milk, went home, had a stroke!, and "ssssued Ssssafeway for sssselling milk that had FAT in it!"

People just need to be reasonably careful with the tools they're using, including with electrical equipment, guns, cars, scissors, or anything else. Just use your common sense. And stop clogging the courts with frivolous lawsuits. We need tort reform.



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