Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.insight From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: CORRESPONDENCE Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 11:35:36 EST Message-ID: \SE CORRESPONDENCE \HD The Word on Teeth, Straight from the Fairy's Mouth Please allow me to set the record straight concerning Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations and the Tooth Fairy [For the People, By the People, Nov. 2]. I lobbied long and hard for these regulations, not for the protection of health care workers, but for my protection and that of my associate fairies. What with the spread of blood-borne, saliva-borne and heaven-knows-what-borne diseases, the Packaging and Disposal Subcommittee of the Tooth Processing Task Force determined several years ago that the era of unprotected tooth gathering was drawing to a close. Recognizing that major changes in tooth handling would be required and could not be left to voluntary cooperation by the public, I requested regulatory changes by OSHA as the first step in a five-point plan to eliminate exposure to tooth-borne pathogens. A major advertising campaign is in development to alert the public to the dangers my associate fairies and I encounter in our nightly rounds of tooth gathering. Soon we will be leaving under your children's pillows two plastic teeth (along with the usual and customary monetary "reward," adjusted for regional differences). These plastic teeth are to be used for future tooth loss events. Instructions will also be provided for the safe disposal of the real teeth. Until every household has these plastic replacements, we will continue to accept real teeth, wearing latex gloves for our protection during the handling process. Thank you for providing this opportunity to alert Insight's "cutting-edge" readers to these advances in tooth technology. The Tooth Fairy (aka Jennifer E. Baker) Fairfield, Va. Write: Insight, Correspondence Editor, 3600 New York Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002. Fax: (202) 529-2484. Please include an address and a daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for space. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM