When tiny amounts of hazardous materials get spilled, major disruptions can result: “Suppose Marshall University had responded to a dropped vial of phenol by asking a janitor to clean it up, cautiously. The school would have feared, and perhaps rightly so, junk-science lawsuits over mysterious symptoms that someone near the spill might claim mysteriously to have developed. Evacuating the med school and bringing in the moon-suit patrol might have been unnecessary, but it reduced the school’s tort exposure.” (Gregg Easterbrook, “Hazardous Waste”, The New Republic, Mar. 21).
Broken thermometer? Close down the school
When tiny amounts of hazardous materials get spilled, major disruptions can result: “Suppose Marshall University had responded to a dropped vial of phenol by asking a janitor to clean it up, cautiously. The school would have feared, and perhaps rightly so, junk-science lawsuits over mysterious symptoms that someone near the spill might claim mysteriously to […]
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