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Deadly infection linked to contaminated room spray sold at Walmart
- neilv 5y agoThat's a tragic thing to happen. But great detective work. I think it restores some faith in humanity and our systems, to be reminded that people are still out there, investigating problems like this, coordinating recalls before other people get sick, and presumably following up on the root causes.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- op00to 5y agoThe blame falls squarely in Walmart’s lap. Their push to sell the cheapest possible product forces manufacturers to either cut corners or go out of business.
- kortilla 5y agoThat’s bullshit though. Everyone wants the cheapest from Amazon, target, etc as well. It’s not an excuse for manufactures
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- macintux 5y agoWalmart is famous for squeezing manufacturers; see Blitz and their gas cans for the potential consequences.
- code_duck 5y agoI recently bought some PuR water filters from Walmart. I had previously purchased the same product from Amazon. The ones from Walmart lack the rubber gaskets found on the ones I purchased from Amazon. I can only assume it's one of their famous cost cutting measures. Same retail price.
- MisterBastahrd 5y agoWalmart is on another level entirely. It's one of the reasons I refuse to trust their store brand merchandise. With other retailers, I can be fairly confident that certain items are going to come from single manufacturer sources. I've never been able to do that with Walmart, especially since they've gotten into the grocery business.
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoWhich is why corporations need checks and balances - including safety and hygiene tests on ALL products sold. Of course, corporations have a financial incentive to check their own products - there will be a huge lawsuit coming out of this and Walmart will end up paying millions in damages.
- sjg007 5y agoThis was House level CDC action. This is why a death is not trivialized but investigated fully.
- calsy 5y agoWhy does faith in humanity need to be restored? Are we corrupted?
- ClumsyPilot 5y agoI mean, we do have literal corruption in most countries, so yes.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- throwawayboise 5y agoMaybe not humanity, but trust in institutions has been badly fractured recently. Relevant to this story, the CDC in particular is no longer trusted by roughly half the country.
- ars 5y agoWhich half is that? The half that continued to wear masks after the CDC said it wasn't necessary? Or the half the refuses to wear masks when the CDC says it is necessary? Neither side are actually listening to the CDC, both sides just do whatever they want, and attempt to justify it by pointing to the CDC.
- sellyme 5y ago> The half that continued to wear masks after the CDC said it wasn't necessary? If you posed the question I presume the CDC would say that it's not necessary to wear hats. I don't think it's a reasonable conclusion to then say that everyone wearing hats distrusts the CDC.
- brigandish 5y agoEven if we accept that wearing a mask is equivalent to wearing a hat - it's not at all - but still, even if we were to, if the CDC initially said you should wear a hat and later said that you shouldn't wear a hat, and if no member of the public was wearing hats prior to these pronouncements, what else would continued hat wearing imply? This Atlantic article[1] seems to imply that it would be "an expression of political identity". These Pew Research results[2] titled Partisan Differences Over the Pandemic Response Are Growing would seem to back that up. It's not the only research they've done of this nature[3]. [1] https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/05/liberals-covid-19-science-denial-lockdown/618780/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/05/liberal... [2] https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/06/03/partisan-differences-over-the-pandemic-response-are-growing/ https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/06/03/partisan-diff... [3] https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/03/05/growing-share-of-americans-say-they-plan-to-get-a-covid-19-vaccine-or-already-have/ https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/03/05/growing-share...
- aaron695 5y agoI think post internet 2-3 months is a long time to track this down. It took much longer from the first known case which might have saved lives. Yes it's a modern marvel, impossible pre internet, but we can be better. Zap every item in the house with a bar code reader and cross reference digitised receipts / bank statements. These people want the toxic thing out of their homes, they'll probably agree to fully help. It's such a strange item, just two people having it, along with India and it has rocks in it should immediately have tipped investigators off. Why was it " South Asian" and not India. Can't we get researchers to stop pumping out BS journals articles for a while and reward them for categorising more genetic material. Even a dunce should be able to do it (And you'll know when they fake it unlike Journal Articles) Discussed here when it was still unknown - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28129776 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28129776
- kgwxd 5y agoCue people buying these to prove it's a conspiracy to prevent rooms from smelling like freedom.
- hoseja 5y agoThe system monopolizes medicine (along with much better known violence), to force you to participate.
- Ansil849 5y agoWho would've thought that buying a concentrated spray of chemicals from Walmart and then proceeding to fill your home with it was a bad idea? 'It's sold in Wal-Mart, in America, it _must_ be safe!'
- HPsquared 5y agoThe idea is if something sold in America was in any way dangerous, the seller would be sued into oblivion. Not always the case in practice, but that's the heuristic.
- rmk 5y ago> 'It's sold in Wal-Mart, in America, it _must_ be safe' Actually, this is a pretty reasonable heuristic. If this happened in India, say, then the story would have been very different. American regulatory institutions are relied upon by the whole world, and are de-facto global regulatory institutions. Examples include the FAA, the FCC, the FDA, the NHTSA, the CDC (which has lost a lot of credibility in this pandemic), and so on.
- Ansil849 5y ago> Actually, this is a pretty reasonable heuristic. Except apparently in this case, eh?
- sergiomattei 5y agoShit happens. These systems aren't exactly 100% perfect, but they're usually better than the alternatives.
- danans 5y agoAs a general note, room air freshener sprays do nothing to freshen the air in your room. For that, you must remove the pollutant source and introduce cleaner air.
- lostlogin 5y agoAs someone who has worked in ED, the best remedy is to rub tiger balm or tea tree oil under your nose. Once your eyes are watering and your sense of smell obliterated, you’re ready for action.
- aspenmayer 5y agoHand sanitizer works in a pinch as well but is very harsh to inhale and I’m not certain it’s even safe, but it does work.
- mechanical_bear 5y agoVicks was my goto as an EMT.
- pixl97 5y agoSome odors are more persistent such as the chemicals that treat furniture. They aren't so much bad smell, but ones people would rather cover.
- paraph1n 5y agoIs that always true? I know nothing about air freshener sprays (and do not use them), but I could imagine a spray which contains heavy particles that trap other lighter airborne particles and drag them to the ground. Or a spray which chemically neutralizes certain other foul-odor-causing chemicals.
- 1MachineElf 5y ago>I could imagine a spray which contains heavy particles that trap other lighter airborne particles and drag them to the ground. That's how febreze is supposed to work: >As Febreze dries, more and more of the odor molecules bind to the cyclodextrin, lowering the concentration of the molecules in the air and eliminating the odor. If water is added once again, the odor molecules are released, allowing them to be washed away and truly removed. Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/how-febreze-works-facts-and-chemistry-606149 https://www.thoughtco.com/how-febreze-works-facts-and-chemis...
- canada_dry 5y ago> manufactured in India The only reason I read the article. I'm glad it wasn't China. We really don't need more ratcheting up of conspiracy theories pertaining to the Chinese for another decade or so.
- whatshisface 5y ago> manufactured in India > The only reason I read the article ... you're selectively reading news articles depending on which country they disparage the regulatory agencies of, but accuse others of being biased?
- canada_dry 5y agoWow! That's a whole lot you've managed to unpack!!
- Dylan16807 5y ago> Wow! That's a whole lot you've managed to unpack!! Huh? They just repeated two things from you and asked if they interpreted them correctly. That's almost the minimum analysis someone could do.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- gwright 5y agoI think you are conflating a couple of ideas in your comment making it a bit muddled in my mind. Actual incidents of product contamination (originating in any country/manufacturer) shouldn't be characterized as "conspiracy theories", that is just inaccurate, IMHO. Drawing general conclusions about a particular country or industry based on media reports should be done very cautiously (confirmation bias, non-random samples, media inaccuracy on details etc.) but even then the details of the assertion are going to be important in labeling something a "conspiracy theory". Could just be statistical illiteracy, sloppy reporting, click-bait stories, etc. I think you were concerned about a single data point being extrapolated into a general assertion with no evidence -- that happens all the time in the media but I don't think that phenomena is best described as a "conspiracy theory".
- iJohnDoe 5y agoInteresting that a product that is probably mostly water being made in India that typical has a shortage of fresh water available to humans.
- pengaru 5y agoIn the sense that one might expect water more likely to be contaminated from such a place? Or are you referring to the export of a scarce resource?
- iJohnDoe 5y agoObviously both.
- maccolgan 5y agoIndia has a shortage of fresh water?
- iJohnDoe 5y agoIndia has 18 per cent of the world’s population but has only 4 per cent of the global water resources. So, the water balance is severely adverse. https://sandrp.in/2021/03/31/2021-summer-north-india-staring-at-severe-water-crisis/ https://sandrp.in/2021/03/31/2021-summer-north-india-staring... https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20210329-the-great-indian-thirst-1781280-2021-03-20 https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/2021032... https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/24/asia/india-groundwater-study-intl-hnk-scn/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/24/asia/india-groundwater-study-... https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/clean-drinking-water https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/clean-drinking-water
- 99_00 5y agoWhat is the ratio of % of world population and % of global water resource that that is balanced?
- pengaru 5y ago"Chamomile Essential Oil Infused Aromatherapy Room Spray with Gemstones" With GEMSTONES, please just kill me already.
- Ansil849 5y agoWhat does that even mean, in context here? Did the can have gemstones on it? Were there gemstones inside? Wtf?
- TheSpiceIsLife 5y agoPerhaps homeopathic gemstones.
- spinach 5y agoActual rocks sitting in the bottom https://glitchndealz.com/wp-content/uploads/UPC84140411420-Lavender-and-Chamomile.jpg https://glitchndealz.com/wp-content/uploads/UPC84140411420-L...
- meowface 5y agoCould this possibly be related to the source of the bacteria?
- mey 5y agoBased on that description was expecting it to be an online third party seller at walmart.com, went and read the article and was surprised to see it made it onto physical store shelves. The quackery sold with a smile in "reputable" stores is insane. (Waves at Whole Foods)
- kevin_thibedeau 5y agoA local grocery store has a prominent display of CBD products with signage declaring that it's for the "human cannabinoid system". I really wish the FDA would exercise its power and live up to its mission to get these clowns away from the gullible public.
- Animats 5y ago"Better Homes and Gardens Lavender and Chamomile Essential Oil Infused Aromatherapy Room Spray with Gemstones" "All natural", of course.
- justin_oaks 5y agoBacteria is natural.
- behnamoh 5y agoNot when you take it outside its natural habitat and put it in a spray that people breath.
- EamonnMR 5y agoThis could really use a picture of the recalled product
- vhold 5y agoThe CDC recall notice has one: https://www.cdc.gov/melioidosis/outbreak/2021/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/melioidosis/outbreak/2021/index.html
- a-dub 5y ago> Walmart revealed that the product was new to the chain and being sold as a test in a limited number of stores. i wonder if this is simply testing how well it will sell or the accompanying marketing or if walmart actually does some kind of consumer product safety motivated canary style rollouts? pretty unlikely, but would be cool if they did.
- sokoloff 5y agoIt’s sales testing. I don’t think “we test our products for safety on unsuspecting canary consumers” would pitch better than “we sell anything that’s legal” even if the math would back up the former as being possibly better.
- a-dub 5y ago"despite the fact that everything we sell has been tested and approved for sale by both manufacturers and also all relevant regulatory bodies, we nevertheless look out for the well-being of our customers by staging roll-outs of new products in small test markets, to measure both customer reactions and to monitor for any consumer complaints or health/safety concerns." sounds fine to me.
- metb 5y agoThe link is yet to be proven: "Some testing remains to be completed. The positive reading from the aromatherapy bottle was done by polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, testing. <b> CDC labs are trying to extract genetic sequence data from the PCR finding to compare to the bacteria from the Georgia patient, as well as the other three. McQuiston is confident it will prove the link. But even if it didn’t </b> the discovery of Burkholderia pseudomallei-contaminated room freshener being sold at one of the country’s largest big box chain required urgent action."
- Borrible 5y agoA long, long time ago, I was a male nurse in intensive and trauma care. Around the time, mid to end 90's, that aroma therapy mumbo jumbo began to spread among nurses. We even had one that couldn't stand the smell of rotting flesh on some poor souls trapped in intensive care with heavily infected wounds. I loved the smell of an infected thorax cavity after partial lung resection in the morning. It smelled of hell. Which really wasn't that pleasant I assure you. That nurse even installed magic trees and lavender bags. Which I associate till this day with decay. Yes, it was around the time 'Seven' had its theatrical release, but she didn't knew the film. I left the healthcare trenches around 2000, but I see, not much changed. Still, enough room for nosocomial infection vectors: https://www.contagionlive.com/view/aromatherapy-in-health-care-settings-source-of-drug-resistant-bacterial-infections https://www.contagionlive.com/view/aromatherapy-in-health-ca...
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoI just feel like smells intended to cover up bad smells make you associate them with each other. I'm sure that bathroom sprays for example are its own category not used elsewhere, to avoid the association. I'd prefer to smell bleach / chlorine when entering a bathroom over a shitty spray myself.