I’ve been in Los Angeles for the past couple of days at a conference, and had the pleasure of having dinner at The Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills.
The Grill is a really good steak and seafood house, and the meal was excellent. Fortunately, I was not paying because it ain’t cheap eats.
Right near the entrance was a Warning sign, because the powers that be cannot rest until they try to ruin your dining pleasure::
WARNING
Chemicals Known To The State Of
Califormia To Cause Cancer, Or Birth
Defects Or Other Reproductive Harm
May Be Present In Foods
Or Beverages Sold Or Served Here
——————————————–
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Comments
Huh?! Why do they need to post such an offensive sign? Is it LA/CA law, or did they get sued due to someone's "contamination"?! What is that really all about – to avoid a lawsuit because they serve meat? And vegetables? Maybe these are not domestic products, so they might have lead or other toxins in them……US domestic standards are much higher than in other countries, of course.
Glad you enjoyed your meal! Had to laugh at your comment: "Fortunately, I was not paying because it ain't cheap eats." There is NOTHING cheap in LA. 😉
There are many things that can cause birth defects and cancer including LA Smog (second hand smoke). It's only right and proper that the State requires mandated warnings that you not breathe the air or drink the water.
Since I live in Southern CA, I'm used to the warnings and disregard them as a matter of course.
I live in CA and that sign is a product of Prop 65 passed in 1986. The signs are ubiquitous … posted on grocery stores, gas stations, banks … you name the business, there's probably a sign. Most do it because there is no specified threshold to exposure…ANY presence of particular chemical must be warned against. So if the restaurant, say, has an outdoor patio and exhaust from nearby streets might waft across, one is being exposed to toxic chemicals and there had better be a sign up or the restaurant will be exposed to $2500 a day fine for each violation. Businesses just slap a warning on the front door to cover their backsides. Serve alcohol on the premises? Hey that causes birth defects so get that warning up!
There has been a nasty cottage industry in California where lawyers – without clients – troll around small businesses looking for code violations then send out letters for "send us money for settlement to avoid lawsuit."
..It is a result of our California initiative system. An initiative (Prop. 65) was pased with the feel-good intention oF warning people when they were exposed to harmful chemicals. By the time the maandated law was signed into action it had become obvious that there were potential dangers almost anywhere…somebody smoking a cigarette less than 20 feet away or cars driving into an enclosed parking space (asbestos in the break lining).Hundreds of others. Stored paint, dry cleaning chemicals, you name it. Since the potential for chemical exposure is legion, the signs are legion and are present on virtually all businesses. Our initiative system is silly because competing interests seek to cancel each other out by putting on the ballot initiatives that sound similar but are opposite and by misleading and misinforming the voters. And the voters vote for silly things routinely.
If you undercook the meat, you are exposed to bacteria. If you overcook it, there are carcinogens in the crust. The only safe way is to cook it is to boil it, for at least an hour. (smile)
If broccoli were not grandfathered as a "vegetable", it could not be approved by the EPA for human consumption, because of the natural carcinogens it contains which greatly exceed any pesticide residues.
Plants Make Their Own Pesticides
Will Congress kill farmers' markets? That food has not been tested.
We live at a time when every exaggeration and sarcasm about the government will come true.
Does the playground at your school contain lead? Is it safe to eat a mere teaspoon of the dirt in front of your house? What is the maximum dose of dirt? Do we know? Keep your children indoors until the dangers have been assessed and removed.
Stop the Death from Quilts and Food
Watch out when you eat.
If possible, don't.
Hey, Professor, my wife and I had dinner a couple of nights ago at a seafood place on the Cape where, in accordance with Massachusetts law requiring a warning wherever raw seafood and such is served (e.g., oysters), the menu proclaimed that "The State of Massachusetts requires us to tell you that eating raw or undercooked food can cause disease and be hazardous to health."
Underneath this warning, the restaurant proprietors added the comment:
"But we don't think so!"
Welcome to Los Angeles! Yep, those signs are ubiquitous, thanks to one of the many nanny-state initiatives passed by voters over the years. You find them in the silliest places, like the door to my apartment building. (Makes you want to move right in, doesn't it?)
And thanks for the recommendation of The Grill; I'll have to give it a try – after I take out a loan. 🙂
"State requires mandated warnings that you not breathe the air or drink the water." –LL
Laughing. Out. Loud. I just got a vision of Tom Lehrer singing "Pollution" (here is the first verse:
If you visit American city
You will find it very pretty
Just two things of which you must beware:
Don't drink the water
and don't breathe the air!
No doubt he was a environmental progressive, albeit a clever, satirical one….but I digress.)
LA is "very pretty" after all….. 😀
I apologize for our alarming welcome.
I hope you spent lots of money while you were here. :>