July 4th, 2024
Source of the following: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fdaphotos/35226029010
“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration”
“Multi-colored cracker balls included in an FDA display of 20 generic “cracker balls” juxtaposed
to candy and other foods.”
The Fourth of July always brings unfortunate stories of injuries from fireworks. The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) is no stranger to this world. In the 1960s, the FDA conducted over 100 seizure
actions nationwide of small sphere-shaped fireworks that exploded when compressed or thrown against
a hard surface. Functionally, they were not unlike what was hurled by Fred Astaire in his 4th of July
dance routine in the 1942 classic movie “Holiday Inn.” Unfortunately, these explosives, known by brand
names such as Cracker Balls, Ball Type Caps, and Single Shot Round Cap Balls, also looked like candy
or cereal. The result, not surprisingly, was that at least 20 children who tried to eat them were injured,
suffering burns, loosened teeth, and lacerated gums, tongues, and cheeks. According to one press
account, a 4-year-old New York boy died after chewing one of these fireworks that contained arsenic. You
bought them from behind the store counter where they kept them right with the candy.
From 1965 to 1966, the FDA seized over $100,000 worth of these products from Atlanta to Seward,
Alaska, under the authority of the Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act of 1960. But seizing
explosives comes with unique challenges. In Mississippi, no nearby commercial storage facility could be
found that would accept the quarter-ton of fireworks seized there; in the end, only a local dynamite
company would accommodate them. In St. Joseph, Missouri, 400,000 of the balls were being pushed
into a ditch to destroy them; the fireworks exploded, shattering nearby windows and throwing the
operator from his bulldozer!
Some retailers offered to relabel the balls’ fireworks. Still, the FDA denied this because no labeling could
prevent injury from these dangerous objects. Nevertheless, these fireworks remained on the market. The
FDA was challenged in court, and the courts decided that appropriate labeling would be sufficient to warn
users of their hazards. Indeed, further reports from the FDA of injuries associated with Cracker Balls and
similar products cannot be found. Oversight of such products was transferred to the Consumer Product
Safety Commission in 1973.”
Cracker Balls. When I was a kid, you could buy these from your local candy or convenience store. The
corner store in my neighborhood sold them in triangle packs of 10 and later in larger packages of 20. You
would throw them at a wall, car, floor, or ground, and they would explode, making a cap gun sound and
leaving a burnt mark on whatever you threw them at.
Once, when we went on a 6th-grade field trip, some of the guys in the class bought enough cracker balls
and took them with us on the trip to the Oakland Planetarium. In the dark of the planetarium, they rolled
the cracker balls under the feet of others. It caused quite a stir when they started going off, and an
embarrassed sixth-grade teacher. If you did that today, people would immediately think it was another
shooter.
Then, one day, they just disappeared. The local store no longer carried them; we were told they were
banned. Well, they were not banned for long; they were just relabeled fireworks which seems reasonable
considering the marks they left on people’s cars when you threw one at a car, not to mention how it
scared the shit out of people when you threw one at a moving car. Everything considered them to be
banned for us; fireworks were banned in Michigan.
Before July 4th, Michigan kids used to drive to Toledo and buy fireworks, and when we were 18 years old, to drink 3 – 1 Beer. That was before they invented light beer. We used to bring the fireworks back to Michigan and sell them as it was profitable. We were teenage, unorganized criminals buying farworks
and drinkin beer.
This is what is wrong with prohibitions, especially between states, as people do not have to follow them,
and they are often, probably most of the time, not enforceable. We cannot even enforce the one for
murder!
While I do think we should keep the one for murder, that is almost enough. The idea you will stop every
woman in the country from having an abortion is an idealistic dream as it is not enforceable. It’s an
idealistic vision by religious fundamentalists and not a taxpayer problem. It is even more nuts if you
think you will take birth control away from women. Countries have found Doing so is the only way
you can get them to have more children. You would need a police state to stop the black market
for birth control .
Tom Flash