Environmental Graffiti

Mmmm, lead! Image from taiyofjs

A California company was punished with what might have been the highest settlement in state history after selling 100,000 lunchboxes to children that were tainted with lead.

The lunchboxes, which are now costing Los Angeles-based T-A Creations $10 million dollars, are not without a sense of irony: they’re dark green, and have a logo on the outside promoting a healthy lifestyle. This is made substantially less funny by the fact that T-A Creations was aware of the lead for four full months in 2006 before the state acted on an April threat to begin court proceedings.

In addition to the minor issue with the money, T-A is barred from producing any sort of container for any sort of food or beverage without a label that explicitly states the dangers of lead that may be coming from their product, which while facially a death knell, may yet turn out ok. After all, the cigarette producers have been thriving for years under similar conditions.

The California Department of Public Health was previously a T-A client, and even bought some of the tainted boxed from T-A as giveaways. Obviously that stopped as soon as the threat of the state poisoning thousands with lead and a cheery slogan was discovered. The corporation however, wasn’t quite so conscious of their actions, and in trying to clear their inventory, cleared their bank account instead.

Source: LA Times

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