All Shook Up: Fortunately it appears the number of deaths caused by yesterday´s earthquakes in Japan will stay fairly small. The toll stands at eight as of this writing. Luckily, too, no major tsunamis were spawned by the temblors.

 

But it is becoming evident that the damage caused by the quakes is extensive, and Japan´s government and people will face a monumental cleanup and rebuilding project. Here´s hoping the international community steps up to the plate to help out.

 

Sweet Dreams: The Chicago Tribune [free registration required] recently ran an investigative story about the new federal product-safety regulations requiring that all mattresses sold in the U.S. be fire-resistant.

 

Doctors, scientists and environmentalists are crying foul on a number of fronts, claiming that some of the fire-resistance technologies that mattress makers are using are toxic (a charge the manufacturers refute); that the mattress makers should be required to disclose which fire-resistance technologies they´re incorporating into their mattresses (under the current regulation, manufacturers are not required to do so); and that in some circumstances consumers should still be able to choose, if they wish, to buy old-fashioned, non-flame-retardant mattresses.

 

It´s excellent reading. There´s more going on here than meets the eye -- lots of heat smoldering beneath the covers, so to speak.

 

East Bay Lockout, Day 15: The natives grow ever more restless as the trash piles continue to ripen around Oakland. Waste Management´s lockout of union drivers is now more than two weeks old and counting.

 

Every time I pass by a reeking Dumpster I feel for those residents. Imagine living in such a stench around the clock for more than two weeks in the middle of summer. Lockout, schmockout; think of the people locked up inside that mess. I would have gone way off the deep end by now -- I´d be cooling my heels in a lockup somewhere, no doubt.

 

Pete Fehrenbach is managing editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.wastenews.com