Industries That Are Shockingly Unregulated
Here in the land of the free and the home of the release form, it’s not surprising that we tolerate a certain level of red-tape cutting by the invisible hand. It turns out, though, that there are a lot of industries that we should probably keep an eye so as not to be splashing around in toxic waste when they’re not swinging blades toward our dicks. Such as…
Cosmetics
It seems pretty important to make sure there are no harmful substances in the products you put in and around your face holes, but the FDA doesn’t require cosmetics to submit for approval before they get sold. That means companies have put some nasty stuff in there, safe in the knowledge that they’ll only get in trouble if they get caught. We’re talking everything from toxic heavy metals in eyeshadow to environmental contaminants in the cleanser used to wash them off. That’s right: We’re not so far removed from the days of painting our faces with lead. In fact, lead has been found in lipstick, so we’re none removed from them.
Tourism Submersibles
Remember the OceanGate Titan, which killed five people when it got lost at sea shortly after launch last year? It turns out it had zero safety certifications. It didn’t need to because it didn’t operate in or out of any ports, so it technically wasn’t ruled by any jurisdiction outside “the ocean,” which doesn’t have a great regulatory track record. Nice loophole for evil corporations, but not so much for passengers who don’t want to die.
Power Tools
What if we told you that, for decades, there’s been a device that can prevent thousands of horrifying table saw accidents every year, and we just don’t make manufacturers use it? In fact, for almost as long, legislators have been trying to pass laws to force them, but they fail every time because it would make table saws more expensive. If you asked one of the 4,000 people who lose a finger (or worse) every year, they’d probably pay extra for the “keep all your body parts” model, but nobody seems to be asking them.
Human Remains
One of the most dystopian facts about the United States, and there are myriad, is that there are no federal laws against or regulating the sale of dead bodies. The only reason we know it happens at all is because a handful of states do prohibit it, and people get caught there all the time, so imagine how often it’s happening in the free body zones. “Body brokers” are typically medical school employees recycling bodies donated for science or funeral-home workers cutting low-income families a deal on services if they can sell their loved one afterward. It’s a shockingly lucrative side hustle: Vital organs alone can get you thousands of dollars, while a full body can fetch up to a million, sooo… just something to consider if you’ve got spares lying around.
