Did the Sale of Pyrex Hurt the Crack-Cocaine Industry?

http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/04/28/did-the-sale-of-pyrex-hurt-the-crack-cocaine-industry/

by bjonathan • 15 years ago

48 28 15 years ago

Not directly. The new purchaser of Pyrex reduced the quality of the product; That hurt anyone who desires temperature-resilient cookware, which includes my Mom.

No, she doesn't make crack cocaine.

georgieporgie• 15 years ago

See pessimizer's comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2500938

luu• 15 years ago

They were "forced to switch from measuring cups purchased at Walmart to test tubes and beakers stolen from labs"? Really? This doesn't pass the sniff test.

Whenever I go into a Goodwill/Savers/Salvation Army store, I see shelves full of old Pyrex and other borosilicate glass cookware selling for $1 a piece. Moreover, it's not hard to buy lab equipment out of a catalog (or online). Considering the profit margins on crack, I have a hard time believing that buying beakers ($5-10 each, in bulk; less for student-grade) "had a substantial impact on crack production".

shareme• 15 years ago

actually mid 1990s at Purdue U campus police would regularly investigate 'missing students and missing labware" for this very reason..

Buying out of places and catalogs means someone can track it back to you..people who do illegal stuff do not want it tracked back to them

tomjen3• 15 years ago

Just have it delived to an empty house in the other end of town.

datasink3• 15 years ago

There's nothing suspicious in itself about ordering laboratory glassware, regardless of the type. If your lab is raided, the presence of glassware will be used to build a case against you for manufacturing, whether you bought or stole it.

Getting caught while stealing glassware from a lab is a much larger risk than having someone at a for-profit lab supply company play junior detective with your glassware order. This might not be entirely obvious while high on crack, though.

p0ppe• 15 years ago

I believe its more a question about risk and availability. Anyone can buy Pyrex from Walmart, but finding lab equipment could be slightly harder for your average crack producer.

ikitat• 15 years ago

It definitely hurt the telescope optics market, there is no longer an affordable supplier of borosilicate optical blanks.

e402• 15 years ago

Does anyone know why the borosilicate cookware is no longer made? It was great stuff, while it was available.

cullenking• 15 years ago

The melting temp of borosilicate glass is higher. In glass production, most of the cost is the energy expenditure required to keep the kilns hot (they never turn off). By dropping to a lower melting point glass, they can shave a substantial amount off their energy bill.

code_duck4• 15 years ago

Borosilicate is a lot more difficult to work with in general. Basically, they cut corners and downgraded goods available to consumers, as companies have done with many other products in the past 50 years.

mhb3• 15 years ago

It's made - just not by Pyrex. I bought some a month ago.

e402• 15 years ago

And what brand did you buy?

dalore• 15 years ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrex#Composition

> According to glass supplier Pulles and Hannique, borosilicate Pyrex is made of Corning 7741 glass, and is equivalent in formulation to Schott Glass 8830 glass sold under the "Duran" brand name.

pessimizer2• 15 years ago

According to Pyrex, they made the switch to soda-lime glass in America over 60 years ago.

http://www.pyrexware.com/index.asp?pageId=30#TruthID6

and according to STATS.org:

"[...]the industry as a whole switched from borosilicate [...] in the 1980s for a variety of reasons, including the fact that soda lime was easier to melt and work with (fewer deformities in the glass). But one of the major reasons for moving to soda lime was environmental compliance: borosilicate glass produces far more emissions from a glass furnace, accounting, in part, for the presence of boric acid in the water and soil. And it was not economical for companies to install multi-million dollar filter systems."

http://stats.org/stories/2009/exploding_pyrex_oct14_09.html

timtadh• 15 years ago

Note that lab grade glassware has been and is currently still borosilicate glass. (and is sold as such to prevent confusion over what you are buying).

code_duck4• 15 years ago

The sale of the Pyrex brand? No. The reformulation of the glass? Yes.

code_duck4• 15 years ago

Hy guys, just so you know, I'm a chemistry lab glass expert and have spent years actually working with borosilicate lab glass as well as soda lime (no, not in a crack lab).

I've been well aware of the situation with Corning, Global Kitchen and Pyrex bakeware for years. Therefore, it's humorous I'm getting downvoted on this story in particular. Carry on.

SamReidHughes• 15 years ago

You're not geting downvoted based on you, you're getting downvoted based on your comment, which comes off a little snippy.

mhb3• 15 years ago

Consumer Reports:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/jan...

gus_massa• 15 years ago

There is more information and a video in the original article: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-03/gray-matter-ca...

jhaglund• 15 years ago

i thought the low-end makers switched to using coffee pots and french presses. larger producers probably wanted that lab equipment anyway.

Did the Sale of Pyrex Hurt the Crack-Cocaine Industry?

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