Pair Find New Barbecue Grill Is Chemical Drum

Brenda Evans wanted to be sure that the new barbecue grill she bought for her husband was not made from old chemical waste drums, as reported in news accounts.

So, before she bought one of the drum-style pits at the Houston Patio & Garden Center, she asked about their origin and was assured that they were made from clean new barrels, as the store had been told by its supplier.

Therefore, it was a surprise for Stan Evans when he stoked up his new cooker for the first time Sunday to barbecue chicken and the words “Dow Chemical Co.” emerged from beneath the black paint.

“I started noticing something on the lid,” Evans said Thursday. “The ink got hot and rose above the paint, where you could read it. As it got hotter, the whole label became readable.

Didn’t Eat Chicken

“It said ‘Poison’ and ‘Danger’ and had a whole paragraph of information. That’s when I decided I didn’t want to eat the chicken.”

A call to the store did not bring a refund offer, Evans said, so he called Dow in Freeport, Tex. A Dow employee drove to the Evans home in northwest Harris County and bought the barbecue grill for $40, a little more than it had cost.

Houston Patio & Garden then offered to pay for the chicken and the restaurant meal that replaced it, Evans said.

Dow spokesman Tim Scott said Thursday that Dow employees checked the remaining drums at the Houston store and found no others with the firm’s markings. A check of the supplier uncovered seven with the Dow name, but Scott said the drums were rejects never used by the chemical firm.