# European Union threatens to ban boobs! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 7, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946 "2005-08-07T03:13:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/1 "2005-08-07T03:13:36Z")
[Link.](http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005350741,00.html) Time to invoke the NATO treaty. An attack on one (or two) is an attack on all! **Nuke Brussels!** ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/2 "2005-08-07T03:20:15Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > [Link.](http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005350741,00.html) > > Time to invoke the NATO treaty. An attack on one (or two) is an attack on all! > > **Nuke Brussels!** Whoosh It is the Sun, famous for Page 3 girls and nearly fake stories. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/3 "2005-08-07T03:25:52Z")
“I’m Boobarella. These are my booooooooobs!” ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/4 "2005-08-07T03:40:17Z")
> [@The Sun](#): > > KNOW a busty barmaid who could be hit by the ban? Email a snap of her to [barmaids@the-sun.co.uk](mailto:barmaids@the-sun.co.uk) or post to Busty Barmaids, The Sun, 1 Virginia Street, London E98 1SN. > > We’ll print the best — and make a plaster cast of the winner’s boobs to hang in your local. Uh huh. Clearly the voice of disinterested skepticism with everyone’s best interest at heart. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/5 "2005-08-07T03:57:32Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > It is the Sun, famous for Page 3 girls and nearly fake stories. Here’s a link from that other infamous tabloid, [_The Daily Telegraph_](http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml%3Fxml%3D/news/2005/08/03/wdirndl03.xml%26sSheet%3D/news/2005/08/03/ixworld.html&ei=64X1Qu7fGrO4YK7Z3LQN). > [@](#): > > Under the EU’s Optical Radiation Directive, employers of staff who work outdoors, including those in Bavaria’s beer gardens, must ensure they cover up against the risk of sunburn. […] > > “This is European law-making at its most pedantic,” said Munich’s mayor, Christian Ude. “A waitress is no longer allowed to wander round a beer garden with a plunging neckline. I would not want to enter a beer garden under these conditions.” ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/6 "2005-08-07T04:54:30Z")
Wait a goddamn minute. This is the European Union? So I could go to The Netherlands or Germany and _legally_ pay a woman to take a dump on my chest, but I can’t look at cleavage at the bar? _Because it’s a health hazard?_ Words fail me. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/7 "2005-08-07T06:47:09Z")
:eek: Clearly this is a terrorist act and we should immediately send troops! I mean, if this policy stands, what’s next? We cannot allow these boobs to lose any of their precious freedom! 😃 I volunteer to head over now and start handling things on my own… ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/8 "2005-08-07T10:39:23Z")
Nooo! They can’t take away the boobs! ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/9 "2005-08-07T12:17:05Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > Wait a goddamn minute. This is the European Union? > > So I could go to The Netherlands or Germany and _legally_ pay a woman to take a dump on my chest, but I can’t look at cleavage at the bar? _Because it’s a health hazard?_ > > Words fail me. Of course you are welcome to look at cleavage. Anywhere, any place, any time. 😃 The suggestion is that bar staff should be careful of sunburn. That’s all. I hear that the US has banned the teaching of evolution in all schools. At least I think that’s what it said… ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/10 "2005-08-07T13:17:29Z")
Seems to be a case of unfounded speculation (like a few years ago when an EU directive on emploment health protection when lifting loads was trumpeted to spell the end of mail services - that didn’t happen either. Postmen with large rounds got carts or bicycles instead of lugging round a heavy bag, and workplaces with much manual lifting had to invest into measaures to protect their employees’ backs, that was all. [Article from _Ärzte Zeitung_, 3. August](http://www.aerztezeitung.de/docs/2005/08/03/143a0202.asp?cat=/politik/gesundheit_in_europa), rough translation: > [@](#): > > EU directive does not apply to _dirndl_ > > The furore about a dirndl ban in Bavaria turns out to be a tempest in a teapot. Respective concerns of _Städtetag_ (1) president Christian Ude were called unfounded by the Bavarian European representative, Paul-Joachim Kubosch (2). > > Ude had voiced concerns that according to the the EU directive for protection against optical radiation beer garden serving staff could not continue to serve with a deep cleavage. Kubosch called this a “misinterpretation”. > > The EU directive, which was still in the legislative process, only applied to high-risk professions where employees were exposed to extreme solar radiation. > > _picture caption_: Servestaff not threatened with dirndl ban. 1): Städtetag: organization of German cities. Christian Ude, Munich’s mayor, is its president at present. 2) An ambiguous term. Googling for the name shows he’s the EU’s representative to Bavaria, not Bavaria’s representative to the EU. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/11 "2005-08-07T17:07:32Z")
> [@tschild](#): > > picture caption: Servestaff not threatened with dirndl ban. I’m sure the stock photo folks are overjoyed by the increased demand for piccies of barmaids coyly unbuttoning their drndls, though. Hell, _I’m_ overjoyed by the increased demand for piccies of barmaids coyly unbuttoning their drndls. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/12 "2005-08-07T17:30:58Z")
I like just _saying_ the word “drndl.” drndl drndl drndl drndl It’s a fun word that makes you sound like the Swedish Chef. To modify an old dirty joke: A drndl isn’t the best thing in the world, but it’s next to the best! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/13 "2005-08-07T18:34:02Z")
Is there anyone that didn’t go to **page 3?** :o ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/14 "2005-08-07T18:43:41Z")
If cleavage is outlawed, only outlaws will have cleavage. Hopefully they’ll be hot-looking outlaws. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/15 "2005-08-07T18:45:25Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I like just _saying_ the word “drndl.” I can never hear that word without thinking of _Tales of the City_. “It’s called a 'Heidi dress. Can you say ‘Heidi dress,’ sweetie?” “:rolleyes:” ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/16 "2005-08-07T18:47:02Z")
When they came for the boobs, I did not speak out, for I was not a boob. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/17 "2005-08-07T18:54:40Z")
> [@glee](#): > > The suggestion is that bar staff should be careful of sunburn. That’s all. Oh. I see. Somebody should tell those people about a wondrous new invention called “sun-screen”. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/18 "2005-08-07T19:33:42Z")
> [@Online Sun](#): > > They say barmaids run a skin cancer risk if they expose themselves to the sun when they go outside to collect glasses. Lamest. Excuse. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-union-threatens-to-ban-boobs/315946/19 "2005-08-08T13:12:19Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > Oh. I see. > > Somebody should tell those people about a wondrous new invention called “sun-screen”. I’ll even volunteer to apply the sun-screen to the aforementioned naughty bits (now where can I get a cheap flight to Munich?)