# Girls serve poisoned cake to classmates **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 19, 2004, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644 "2004-11-19T13:27:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![luluBahrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e5b9ba/32.png) [@luluBahrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luluBahrain)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/21 "2004-11-19T17:29:26Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > From the article: > > Huh? Putting expired meds and bleach in baked goods is certainly deplorable, but “terroristic?” Was she shouting “Allah Akbar!” as the cake was distributed? Did the heads of any students get lopped off? Any explosions? > > Sheesh. Maybe I am being a bit touchy but all terrorists are not Middle Eastern or Muslim. If you didn’t mean to imply that then I’m sorry. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/22 "2004-11-19T17:57:15Z")
> [@luluBahrain](#): > > Maybe I am being a bit touchy but all terrorists are not Middle Eastern or Muslim. If you didn’t mean to imply that then I’m sorry. I don’t think he meant to imply that at all. Little girls making a cake with “interesting” frosting are not terrorists, no matter where they’re from. It’s like calling a little boy who kisses a little girl a dangerous pedophilic predator. ---
**Author:** ![luluBahrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e5b9ba/32.png) [@luluBahrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luluBahrain)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/23 "2004-11-19T17:59:02Z")
Okay, I kind of thought that was the case. Sometimes people drive me nuts with terrorists=Muslim/Middle Easterners thing. I agree with you then it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/24 "2004-11-19T17:59:26Z")
What government property was interfered with anyway? Did they consider the cake to be government property because it was served in the school? Were the students government property? The toilets could be considered government property, but since the surrounding tile probably turned out whiter than ever before, I can’t see much cause for concern there. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/25 "2004-11-19T18:21:45Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > What government property was interfered with anyway? Did they consider the cake to be government property because it was served in the school? Were the students government property? The toilets could be considered government property, but since the surrounding tile probably turned out whiter than ever before, I can’t see much cause for concern there. I would guess it’s the school itself. Agreed, while what these girls did was awful, the charges levelled against them are pretty stupid. Before long, every crime, no matter what its nature, is going to be called “terroristic.” ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/26 "2004-11-19T18:26:14Z")
These girls should recieve “unsatisfactory” under “plays well with others”. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/27 "2004-11-19T18:27:02Z")
Quite a stupid act and certainly worthy of punishment, but assault with attempt to commit murder? That’s too heavy handed. As a footnote, the [LD50](https://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/91020.htm) for ingested bleach is in the neighborhood of 90mL/kg, so to kill a 30kg middle school girl, she’d have to ingest about 2700 mL of bleach. Okay, that’s 2.7 liters, so that calculation is obviously wrong. But [this site](http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/gilpin/toxicity.shtml) lists the LD50 for diluted household bleach at 190 mg/kg, so if I used that, it would double to a lethal dose of over 5 liters. Do you really need to drink several whole _liters_ of household bleach before it can kill you? What am I missing here? ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/28 "2004-11-19T18:39:56Z")
> [@neuroman](#): > > Quite a stupid act and certainly worthy of punishment, but assault with attempt to commit murder? That’s too heavy handed. > > As a footnote, the [LD50](https://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/91020.htm) for ingested bleach is in the neighborhood of 90mL/kg, so to kill a 30kg middle school girl, she’d have to ingest about 2700 mL of bleach. Okay, that’s 2.7 liters, so that calculation is obviously wrong. But [this site](http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/gilpin/toxicity.shtml) lists the LD50 for diluted household bleach at 190 mg/kg, so if I used that, it would double to a lethal dose of over 5 liters. Do you really need to drink several whole _liters_ of household bleach before it can kill you? What am I missing here? They’ve not analyzed the cake yet, there are reports that the girls also put some “expired drug” into the icing of the cake, as well as tabasco sauce and Playdoh. I am not sure about the ratio of bleach to weight of a person, but if I’m not mistaken, bleach does permanent damage to the throat and esphougas as well. I don’t think the girls meant to kill anyone, but I don’t think they “just thought it would be funny either”. I think there was some malicious intent. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/29 "2004-11-19T18:51:49Z")
What really pisses me off is this part: > [@](#): > > The father said his daughter was diagnosed this summer with Asperger’s syndrome, and that **doctors told him the girl should not be in a conventional school setting**. So the father knew his daughter was ill with a disorder that can manifest in inappropriate behavior and “[do[ing] things that may appear to be unkind or callous](http://www.faaas.org/home.php),” has the advice of a trained medical professional to get her into special schooling and proceeds to ignore both the advice and her condition. I’d like to see the bastard brought up on accessory charges. Thank goodness those poisoned kids are ok!! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/30 "2004-11-19T18:54:25Z")
I bet someone sues the school for serving food that didn’t come from a known source and that nobody will be allowed to bring cake ever again. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/31 "2004-11-19T18:57:17Z")
> [@Jaade](#): > > I don’t think the girls meant to kill anyone, but I don’t think they “just thought it would be funny either”. I think there was some malicious intent. Thing is, we just don’t have enough information to make a judgement. We have no way of ascertaining the state of mind of those girls. If I had to take a guess, though, they were taunted at school, and decided to get back at their tormentors by feeding them something “gross.” They had no idea that the cakes might actually kill someone. In fact, while the act was premeditated, it doesn’t sound like it was terribly well thought out. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/32 "2004-11-19T19:12:21Z")
> [@Shayna](#): > > What really pisses me off is this part: So the father knew his daughter was ill with a disorder that can manifest in inappropriate behavior and “[do[ing] things that may appear to be unkind or callous](http://www.faaas.org/home.php),” has the advice of a trained medical professional to get her into special schooling and proceeds to ignore both the advice and her condition. I’d like to see the bastard brought up on accessory charges. Thank goodness those poisoned kids are ok!! I think the suggestion from the medical professional was to prevent social problems with the girl and her classmates. No way in hell could anyone have predicted a bleach cake. Who’s to say that she wouldn’t have done this at a “special” school? Accessory charges? No fucking way. And yes, thank goodness the kids are okay. But we won’t know for sure, the kids could all end up with some wierd ass tumors by the time they’re 20. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/33 "2004-11-19T19:24:01Z")
> [@ParentalAdvisory](#): > > I think the suggestion from the medical professional was to prevent social problems with the girl and her classmates. No way in hell could anyone have predicted a bleach cake. Who’s to say that she wouldn’t have done this at a “special” school? Accessory charges? No fucking way. One doesn’t have to predict the specific act, in order to take medically advised action in an effort to prevent _some_ potential bad act. It’s a characteristic of her illness to behave callously and without regard to the consequences of how it affects other people. The father was told to place her in an environment where she could receive proper care by professionals trained to educate children with such disabilities. That doesn’t mean bad things won’t still happen, but at least you’ve taken reasonable care to attempt to mitigate that possibility. If you entirely IGNORE medical advice and a PREDICTABLE outcome results from your lack of care, I say you bear at least some responsibility – _especially_ if you’re the parent and you aren’t taking proper care of your child. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/34 "2004-11-19T19:25:36Z")
> [@neuroman](#): > > Quite a stupid act and certainly worthy of punishment, but assault with attempt to commit murder? That’s too heavy handed. > > As a footnote, the [LD50](https://fscimage.fishersci.com/msds/91020.htm) for ingested bleach is in the neighborhood of 90mL/kg, so to kill a 30kg middle school girl, she’d have to ingest about 2700 mL of bleach. Okay, that’s 2.7 liters, so that calculation is obviously wrong. But [this site](http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/gilpin/toxicity.shtml) lists the LD50 for diluted household bleach at 190 mg/kg, so if I used that, it would double to a lethal dose of over 5 liters. Do you really need to drink several whole _liters_ of household bleach before it can kill you? What am I missing here? The LD50 is a toxicity measure, that doesn’t take into account other effects. Obviously the corrosive nature is the more pressing concern. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/35 "2004-11-19T19:31:46Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I bet someone sues the school for serving food that didn’t come from a known source and that nobody will be allowed to bring cake ever again. There was an article about this in our local newspaper this morning. Unfortunately it wasn’t included in their online edition or I’d link you to it. The article talked about school districts and states (Texas was one, but apparently has loosened it’s law about it) which have forbidden homemade goodies from being brought to schools due to incidents such as this and to curb obesity in students. Other school districts limit the bringing of goodies to two or three occasions per year according to the article. In addition to this incident in Cobb County there was an incident of students getting sick after eating a big cookie brought in by a student at Glascock (yes, that’s the name!) County Consolidated School earlier this year. I’m just waiting on Georgia to ban homemade goodies now. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/36 "2004-11-19T20:34:18Z")
There are lots of classrooms–by school policy or the individual teachers–that won’t accept homemade goodies any more, though not usually because of poison fears. Some reasons include: no ingredients list, student allergies, you don’t know what might be in the parents’ kitchens, too much junk food anyway, and overly competitive parents. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/37 "2004-11-19T20:35:12Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > The LD50 is a toxicity measure, that doesn’t take into account other effects. Obviously the corrosive nature is the more pressing concern. Ah, ok. I guess a bleach quaffer would probably die of gastrointestinal chemical burns before the toxicity of the substance killed him. ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/38 "2004-11-19T20:50:28Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I bet someone sues the school for serving food that didn’t come from a known source and that nobody will be allowed to bring cake ever again. > [@dangermom](#): > > There are lots of classrooms–by school policy or the individual teachers–that won’t accept homemade goodies any more, though not usually because of poison fears. Some reasons include: no ingredients list, student allergies, you don’t know what might be in the parents’ kitchens, too much junk food anyway, and overly competitive parents. This incident, if widely picked up, will cause more of these restrictive policies to be proposed nationwide. Weighing the potential dangers against the long history of uneventful cupcake parties probably won’t matter. Reactionary forces will likely rule the day, and we’ll see no more homemade treats in any public school classrooms. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/39 "2004-11-19T21:34:07Z")
> [@Balle\_M](#): > > Not by a long shot. Someone could have been injured or seriously killed. I will accept nothing less than _VERY_ sorry. Still not good enough. They should be made to stand in front of the class and sing the Calvin & Hobbes _I’m Sorry_ song. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644/40 "2004-11-19T22:47:43Z")
> [@Harborwolf](#): > > we’ve secretly replaced these kids “Good Housekeeping Cookbook” with “The Anarchists Cookbook.” Let’s see if anyone can tell the difference.[/SIZE] Careful, or you might cause a loompanic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girls-serve-poisoned-cake-to-classmates/275644.md?page=3)