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".
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.
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.
There is something suspicious in itself about ordering laboratory glassware. When clandestine chemists buy, they use shell buyers, dodgy distributors, false letterhead, and/or squirrel purchases across many distributors.
Clandestine chemists would prefer not to send their glassware to 15 Methlab Lane, certainly. But most of the clever paranoid tactics are for the acquisition of chemicals, which the DEA has a very tight grip on. In some cases, precursors of precursors. A chemical supplier can pretty easily divine illegal applications from the order combination. Glassware suppliers cannot. And I'm a laboratory glassware seller, so I can say that with some certainty.
But let's say your lab is raided while you aren't there and the police are trying to tie you to the lab. You had better believe they'll be checking your credit card statements.
If your lab is raided, and they have no other means of tying you to its operation, and they can make the case to a judge that they should be able sequester your credit card history and the order details of scientific-sounding companies within it, then yes, you're in bad shape.
I think in most cases criminals are suitably stupid enough to make law enforcement's job much easier. Like, for example, busting someone who is trying to break into a lab with a security system, and then finding a meth lab in their mobile home.
"[...]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."
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.
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.
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.
> 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.
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.
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".