First they came for the chemistry sets, and then they came for the Wiccan spell sets . . .
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Overlawyered reports (via BoingBoing) that due to fear of liability, chemistry sets for kids are now being sold without chemicals–
The liability-phobic dilution of kids’ science has reached its apotheosis with ‘CHEMISTRY 60′: a chemistry kit that promises ‘60 fun activities with no chemicals.’ Kids are expected to supply the chemicals from their parents’ kitchen cupboards. Overlaweryed (quoting Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing); see also Sean Michael Ragan, MAKE; Chemical & Engineering News, RSC.
Siouxsie doesn’t own the Chemistry 60 set, nor does she want to. The only remotely interesting thing in the set is a bottle of bubbles. What’s the point? The entire fun of kids’ chemistry sets is the belief that you are actually experimenting with dangerous chemicals and that you could possibly blow up your entire house. Chemistry sets sold without chemicals are just pointless and sad. Pointless, because many of the ingredients used in a chemistry set can be found in kitchens and in typical household cleaning supplies. Sad, because just when you think that America’s decline has reached bottom, it goes a little lower.
What’s next, Wiccan starter kits sold without herbs, charcoal and candles? Better buy them while you still can. Very soon, you will only be able to buy a box with a book of spells and some bubbles.
Bonus Video: Katie Stelmanis — Believe Me
Siouxsie Law 
I’m not sure if I want to laugh or cry. Both, probably.
Well, I’ll be in the kitchen for a while now and make bubbles with dish-detergent. My set came with no bubbles at all. 😦
What! I thought you could still get crazy mad-scientist kits in Europe.
I can imagine it would actually be *more* dangerous to teach kids to start mixing chemicals from the cupboards than to give them the *right* chemicals in a structured set and tell them how to use them safely….
Totally agree. A structured set, instructions, and supervision seems like the way to go. Otherwise you just get kids looking up stuff in the Anarchist Cookbook and having a go at it.
i will never understand when parents got so freaking scared of everything. i spent so much autonomous time just running around falling out of trees and such. now, it’s to the point where i saw a kid playing outside the other day when i was driving down the street, and it was so odd to see a kid messing with an ant bed or something that i almost wrecked the car in shock…
Hahaha! If you had wrecked, you could have sued the kids’ parents.