Dangerous Sippy Cup

I'm all for safety, truly I am. Priorities are a tad off it seems, however. The following is an article posted on Boing Boing

TSA detains woman over infant's sippy cup -- I feel safer!

Jordan says: "This one just made my blood boil: a mom was bullied by a gaggle of security officers at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. over the water in her 19-month-old son's sippy cup. The story starts out sort of funny, with the sippy cup being seen as some sort of deadly weapon, but quickly spirals into nightmare territory. This is a national embarassment; I feel more threatened by these uniformed goons than I do by terrorists, and I lived in NYC during 9/11."

"I demanded to speak to a TSA [Transportation Security Administration] supervisor who asked me if the water in the sippy cup was 'nursery water or other bottled water.' I explained that the sippy cup water was filtered tap water. The sippy cup was seized as my son was pointing and crying for his cup. I asked if I could drink the water to get the cup back, and was advised that I would have to leave security and come back through with an empty cup in order to retain the cup. As I was escorted out of security by TSA and a police officer, I unscrewed the cup to drink the water, which accidentally spilled because I was so upset with the situation.

"At this point, I was detained against my will by the police officer and threatened to be arrested for endangering other passengers with the spilled 3 to 4 ounces of water. I was ordered to clean the water, so I got on my hands and knees while my son sat in his stroller with no shoes on since they were also screened and I had no time to put them back on his feet.

"I was ordered to apologize for the spilled water, and again threatened arrest. I was threatened several times with arrest while detained, and while three other police officers were called to the scene of the mother with the 19 month old. A total of four police officers and three TSA officers reported to the scene where I was being held against my will. I was also told that I should not disrespect the officer and could be arrested for this too. I apologized to the officer and she continued to detain me despite me telling her that I would miss my flight. The officer advised me that I should have thought about this before I 'intentionally spilled the water!'"

Link

(Sidenote: WTF is Nursery Water? It's a brand of fluoridated water for babies. The American Dental Association has asked WalMart to stop selling it. "According to the ADA, consumption of fluoridated water puts a baby at high risk for dental fluorosis -- a defect of teeth that causes staining and sometimes corrosion of the enamel.")

posted by Mark Frauenfelder on June 14, 2007, 11:58 AM permalink | blogs' comments

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