PZ Myers wrote a couple days back of the increasing scarcity of that mainstay of youthful education from a couple generations ago, the chemistry set:
Chemistry sets have been spayed and neutered by timid authorities who are afraid of drug labs and terrorists, reduced to little more than Easy Bake ovens themselves, and splattered with warning labels to instill fear of even the most innocuous reagents. The end result is going to be a new generation of kids stripped of an important formative experience in the sciences.
Now, an allegation of a bizarre and frightening new federal initiative comes from United Nuclear, a chemistry hobbyist’s supply house:
The United States CPSC has initiated criminal legal action against us and other chemical suppliers. In short, the CPSC would like to ban the public from all access to chemicals. This would mean an end to Chemistry as a hobby, as well as all personal research and other endeavors involving chemicals of any sort.
Currently, the CPSC is focusing on common chemical Oxidizers (such as Perchlorate Compounds, Nitrate Compounds, Permanganate Compounds, Chlorate Compounds, etc., along with a wide variety of other common chemicals & metals such as: Sulfur, Aluminum, Magnesium, Titanium, Zirconium, Zinc, Magnailim, Benzoate Compounds, Salicylate compounds, Antimony and antimony compounds, etc.
The CPSC now claims this action is to stop the manufacture of illegal explosive fireworks.
If their true intention is to attempt to curtail the construction of these devices, there are only two chemicals which should be of concern: Potassium Perchlorate & German Aluminum. For those unfamiliar with exploding fireworks, they are all made from one material: Flash Powder.
Flash Powder is a mixture of Potassium Perchlorate, and a special ultra-fine aluminum powder known as German Aluminum. These have been the only 2 chemicals used in the manufacture of every single exploding firework from firecrackers to M-80s from the 1960s to present times.
I’m the last person to complain, usually, when government agencies act to restrict public exposure to harmful substances. But this is just… bizarre. It smacks of the FDA’s protecting narcoleptics from a one-in-five-hundred-thousand chance of negative health impacts by banning pemoline. But this administration is hardly known for its diligence in shielding people from hazardous substances. It’s all just very odd. In the meantime, one more way in which kids once became interested in the sciences has been taken away.
Next up: the perils of plastic hand lenses.
I liked the Liberal nanny state a lot better than the Conservative nanny state.
We have too many laws. The government is out of control, and should be slashed to the bone. It will surely grow back again, only maybe we can tailor it.
I’m sure there’s a botanical term for that. I mean, other than pruning.
Having been nurtured in a family compound that had its own laboratory for designing, engineering, and experimenting with molecular compounds to be developed for propulsion systems to launch rockets, missles, and others such controlled extremely rapid oxidation reaction environments, i am more than familiar with the list above, as well as all that can be done with them. And while the actual, large-scale, test facility was off in the hinterlands (although now it is indeed another expensive SoCal housing tract), my father, with the help of my brother and i would often make our own annual celebratory eye-candy explosions for NYE and the fourth of July (which just happened to be my father’s birthday; my mothers was June 14th, flag day—go figure).
I was able to pass through high school chemistry based solely on my familial experiences (also perhaps the outcome of a couple of accidental explosions in my elementary school years) and was received with open arms in the UDT/SEALS as well. Simply put, i grew up surrounded by and playing with lots of chemicals that made explosives, and got very good at it back then. Therefore i can suggest that if it is the intent of the DHS and CPSC to restrict access to all of this chemistry training to children, it won’t make one bit of difference in the long run.
The most dangerous terrorist explosive material is the most common (and to protect Chris, i will not mention the names of the chemicals) and available in most neighborhoods. The chemicals listed above may be very useful for making more sophisticated detonation devices, but that does not limit the capacity of those interested in making them to do so. The list is composed of the standard fare to make both explosives and drugs, and would not preclude substitions at all. Limiting the public’s private access, would not prevent local commercial agents from purchasing and using them; as many have multiple and important uses. If this were the purpose, then i would expect CPSC to shut down access to gas stations, pool supply stores, hardware stores, and other home and garden enterprises—given that these likewise are providers of large quantities of materials that can be used in very dangerous ways.
I am inclined to think there is something else going on here. The amounts that most science supply retailers sell are quite small, and would not be sufficient for either bomb or designer drug manufacturing. The underlying effort to curtail this access to chemistry among young people and their families seems to indicate that something else is behind it all. Of course stink bombs don’t require much quantity, nor do smoke bombs either.
See Jon Carroll’s column on the same topic in today’s Chron:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/06/02/DDGS0INI811.DTL
He’s my other favorite writer…
I should have bought that 19th century chemistry set I saw at the antiques store yesterday. I had no idea they were extinct. (Although I’m sure Tony Blair’s Secret Police would have tailed me if I had.)
I hadn’t seen that Pemoline story before. My shame for briefly supporting Nader in 2000 is complete.
I had forgotten about all the fun my brother and I had with our chemistry sets as kids in the early 60’s. Thanks for the memories!