skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

What You May Not Know About Your Red Plastic Gas Can

play audio
Play

Monday, September 17, 2012   

MADISON, Wis. - Every year, dozens of people, many of them children, are severely burned or killed when plastic gas cans explode. Attorney Diane Breneman represents several victims of such explosions, and says these tragedies could easily be prevented.

"It's a huge problem. There are millions of these cans sitting around in people's homes, and in 30 cases that we've identified, the medical bills exceed $130 million. We're all paying for that."

Industry spokesmen say it's people misusing the products or making stupid decisions. Breneman says that's not true. One of the victims is a volunteer firefighter who was refueling his chain saw; another is a pit crew member of an auto racing team, who was filling his lawn mower.

"The people who are injured by these cans never see it coming. Industry, on the other hand, they have been sued since the mid-1990s. They have had over 20 years to get this right."

Breneman says the fix is very simple: adding a 50-cent flame arrester to the can, to contain fumes while the gas is being poured.

The gas-can makers say lawsuits claiming their products are deficient are filed by greedy people and their lawyers, and insist that the products are being misused. But Breneman says the industry knows very well that gas cans are far less safe now than they were a hundred years ago.

"The first patent for a flame arrester in a gas can was 1881. By 1920 the Protectoseal Corporation in this country was selling safe cans that had flame arresters in them, and it costs somewhere between a few pennies and 50 cents to fix the problem."

All industrial-grade gas cans have had flame arresters for decades, but the industry insists they're not needed in home gas cans. Breneman says scores of safety experts disagree.

"It's not about frivolous lawsuits. It is about gross, callous corporate management in the face of the worst burn injuries you could imagine. That's what these cases are about."

Those safety experts say you should replace your plastic gas cans with ones that have flame arresters.

Check your gas can and get tips at www.stopgasfires.org.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021