In case you aren’t familiar, Michael Scott Moore and David Rohde are both journalists. Moore was held by Somali pirates for 977 days. Rohde was held captive by the Taliban for 7 months after being abducted in Afghanistan.
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🇺🇸recall of over 3.2 million metal wire bristle grill brushes due to dislodged wire bristles causing injuries requiring surgery; +bonus tumblr PSA: this is NOT a safe category of product🇺🇸
mouthful of a title, and a lot more detail than usual, because some absolutely horrifying nightmare fuel shit came up while making this post. thanks for your patience. no matter where you are in the world, if you have a grill or know anyone that does, you might want to read this.
the ultrafine bristles on weber metal wire grill brushes (and fine metal wire grill brushes as a whole) silently detach from the brush, stick to the grill, and eventually get stuck in food that people put in their mouth. these bristles are often difficult or impossible to spot in grilled food before it gets eaten. when food contaminated with even one single metal bristle gets eaten, the sharp bristle(s) easily and painfully pierce (and sometimes embed themselves in) victims’ mouths, throats, and/or digestive tracts.
the recalled weber metal wire grill brushes were imported by weber-stephen products LLC and were sold online and in stores at lowe’s, home depot, ace hardware, target, amazon.com, and weber.com from 2011 through 2026 for $10-$17. also sold on resale sites like ebay. this information is for whatever reason not actually listed in the CPSC recall announcement itself, but according to weber’s official recall website, the recalled grill brushes were also sold at tractor supply, best buy, and “other” stores.
15 years of highly recommended, respected, ‘good’ metal wire grill brushes being recalled here. weber is offering free nylon wire grill brush replacements if you submit a photo and then promise to dispose of your recalled metal wire grill brushes. weber is aware of at least 38 reports and reviews of wire bristles coming off of the brushes. this includes 4 reports of people who ate food containing weber wire bristles and needed surgery to remove it from their throat or digestive tract.
so, I (rune) spent a few hours reading and summarizing the past 15 years of saferproducts.gov incident reports for metal wire bristles dislodging from grill brushes as a whole, both weber and non-weber metal wire grill brushes, to learn more about this category of product and the type of injuries they cause.
metal wire grill brush injuries (even from one single bristle!) often require weeks to months of agony, a ton of imaging, multiple different hospitals, several medical specialists, and multiple unsuccessful surgeries before the wire bristles get successfully removed…if surgery is ever successful. summarized incident reports and names of other hazardous metal wire grill brushes are compiled at the bottom of this post, under the cut, due to increasingly graphic injury descriptions and enormous number of reports.
for the US: please report unsafe products and please read reports of unsafe products at saferproducts.gov, which is run by the USconsumer product safety commission (CPSC). you want that website bookmarked, as well as CPSC.gov/recalls and the ever-shitty recalls.gov/recent for a compilation of other official US recall links (click through the RSS feed links, the RSS recall feed previews are dangerously outdated). there are a shitload of unsafe products responsible for years of safety incidents, injuries, and sometimes deaths that have not yet been recalled and are often still actively being sold in the united states. many US product recalls only happen because safety incidents, including those involving injury or death, get reported on saferproducts.gov specifically. there have already been hundreds if not thousands of recalls across different US regulatory agencies in 2026 alone, as of march 2nd, 2026.
whether or not your metal wire grill brush is one of the ones involved in this weber recall, regardless of your brand or model of metal wire grill brush, and regardless of where you live in the world, please consider switching away from metal wire bristle grill brushes as a whole. clean your grill with anything else. try metal coil grill brushes, nylon grill brushes, bristle-free grill brushes, scrub pads, chainmail scrubbers, ANYTHING other than grill brushes with metal wire bristles that can detach and land you or someone you care about in the hospital.
and in fact, if you have a safer recommendation for grill cleaning, leave it in a reply or reblog. holy fucking shit, nothing is worth the injuries caused by this entire category of product.
Hazard: Small metal wire bristles can detach from the brushes, stick to the grill or food, posing an ingestion hazard and risk of serious internal injuries that could require surgery. Remedy: Replace Recall Date: February 26, 2026 Units: About 3.2 million
these grills brushes are made up of tiny sharp metal wires, and are used to harshly scrub and clean grills. sometimes these bristles fall off the brush and wind up stuck to the grill. those bristles eventually wind up stuck in food cooked on that grill, and then that food goes into someone’s mouth. do you normally remove the bun and use a magnifying glass and knife to carefully inspect and dissect an entire fucking burger handed to you by a grillmaster at a BBQ before trying to eat it? probably not!
and what happens next fucking sucks! the thin bristles pierce the mouth and can get lodged in throats or digestive tracts, and even one single bristle can require expensive scans and surgery. a lot of US emergency rooms are not equipped to successfully remove bristles this fine and make victims schedule an appointment with a specialist, even if the earliest appointment with someone covered by insurance is weeks or months away.
and the longer it takes a victim to find a medical professional who can successfully remove even one single fucking accidentally consumed metal wire grill brush bristle, the more likely that injury will become severe or even life-threatening. sometimes victims do not realize they even ate a bristle until days later when they are in agony and a lot of damage has already been done.
if you ever think you could have maybe swallowed a metal wire grill brush bristle: GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE BRISTLE GETS LODGED EVEN DEEPER, GETS FURTHER DOWN YOUR DIGESTIVE TRACT, OR POSSIBLY CAUSES A MAJOR INFECTION!
Description: This recall involves the metal wire bristle grill brushes with plastic or wood handles measuring between 12 and 21 inches long, as described below. The following model numbers are included in this recall and can be found on the product packaging: 6277, 6278, 6463, 6464, 6493, and 6494. Only the model numbers listed below are part of this recall.
some emphasis mine. not all weber grill brushes are being recalled, and most definitely not all metal wire grill brushes in the US are being recalled. unfortunately, the model numbers are on the product packaging. meaning, if you (very reasonably!) threw the packaging away, you just have to try and guess when and where your grill brushes were purchased, and compare the images to see if yours is eligible for a free replacement. all recalled grill brushes have either the weber grill logo or weber logo name somewhere on the brush or handle. might be a bit faded depending on how much yours was used.
but if you have a grill, this is a good opportunity to carefully check or ideally just replace all of your fine metal wire grill brushes. if you need more convincing, check saferproducts.gov incident reports involving grill brushes, or the summaries of those reports provided at the bottom of this post under the cut.
alright here comes my (rune!’s) eternal struggle: transcribing a table of recall information to tumblr. for a much more readable format, check out the recall announcement.
I (rune!!) cannot upload all the images in this recall because it exceeds tumblr’s maximum image limit on mobile, but the recalled grill brush information is in the same order as the photos at the top of this post, and the missing images are also the ones at the top of this post. these 6 recalled grill brushes are basically the long and short versions of 3 different grill brush styles: one with a plastic black handle and a red ring, one made of bamboo that also has a metal scraper, and one with an all-black plastic handle.
recalled weber plastic handle metal wire grill brushes sold between 2021 and 2026:
Model Number: 6277
Brush Description: 12 inch black plastic handle with red ring stamped with Weber grill logo
Distribution Dates: 2021-2026
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Model Number: 6278
Brush Description: 18 inch black plastic handle with red ring stamped with weber grill logo
Distribution Dates: 2021-2026
the full view of 6277 is image #1 at the top of this post, 6278 is image #2. they share the same grill logo. the CPSC recall announcement resuses the 6277 close-up for the 6278, and then also, in an apparent mistake, uses the grill logo for the overall picture of the 6278. (hopefully fixed by the time you see it…?)
recalled weber bamboo handle metal wire grill brushes sold between 2011 and 2021:
Model Number: 6463
Brush Description: 12 inch bamboo handle with silver metal scraper on the back branded with the Weber logo name
Distribution Dates: 2011-2021
and the weber logo name looks like this:
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Model Number: 6464
Brush Description: 18 inch bamboo handle with silver metal scraper on the back branded with Weber logo name
Distribution Dates: 2011-2021
and once again, the image above was used as the close-up for both brushes. 6463 is image #3, 6464 is image #4 at the top of this post.
recalled weber plastic handle metal wire grill brushes sold between 2013 and 2021:
Model Number: 6493
Brush Description: 21 inch black plastic handle with black ring stamped with Weber grill logo and metal binder with Weber grill logo
Distribution Dates: 2013-2021
and the close-ups of the grill logos here:
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Model Number: 6494
Brush Description: 12 inch black plastic handle with black ring stamped with Weber grill logo
Distribution Dates: 2013-2021
the 6494/shorter brush only shares the first close-up, because it is too short to have a metal binder in the style of the 6493/longer brush despite being the same style of grill brush. 6493 is image #5, 6494 is image #6 at the top of this post.
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled grill brushes and contact Weber for a cold cleaning nylon bristle grill brush replacement. Consumers will be asked to discard the recalled grill brushes.
STOP using these. and possibly all metal wire grill brushes. weber is offering replacement nylon bristle grill brushes. in kind of a dick move/possible mistake, weber’s contact information and how to get a replacement grill brush are not actually listed in this recall announcement. so I (rune!!!) tracked it down, for a quick detour about how to get a free replacement nylon grill brush:
weber.com has its own recall notice page, which is linked at the top of the homepage in a bright red banner. always like to see that. the recall notice page then links to this website, weberbrushrecall.com, for the recall of the grill brushes. to register for the recall, you do the following process:
Does your grill brush have one of the Weber logos seen in the image above? [Yes/No]
Select the photo that matches you Weber grill brush and click Register. Please confirm you are selecting the correct brush size.
then it takes you to a registration page where you fill out your address and an email and/or phone number for weber to keep in contact throughout this process. it asks you if your grill brush was purchased online or in store from ace, amazon, best buy, home depot, lowe’s, target, tractor supply, weber, or somewhere else. and then it asks whether your grill brush was purchased in the past 12 months, 1-2 years ago, or longer than 2 years ago. if you bought it in a store, it was probably purchased within the year ranges listed in this post and on the recall announcement. you then check a box saying you promise to destroy your grill brush after you send in a photo and receive email confirmation from weber that your recall photo was accepted and a replacement nylon grill brush is on the way.
you must not chuck your recalled grill brush before you send weber the wiry felon’s mugshot, if you want to receive the free replacement grill brush.
alright, back to the recall announcement! going to do this next bit out of order for reasons you will see in a second.
Sold At: The recalled grill brushes were sold online and in stores at Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, and Target, and online at Amazon and Weber.com from 2011 through 2026 for between $10 and $17. The products have also been found on resale sites, such as eBay.com.
…and again, as was revealed during the incidentally explored registration process for a refund for the purpose of summarizing it for this post: these brushes were also sold at tractor supply, best buy, and “other”. why is this not listed in the recall announcement?
Incidents/Injuries: Weber is aware of at least 38 reports and reviews where small wire bristles detached from the grill brushes, including four reports of consumers who swallowed metal bristles and sought medical treatment to remove the bristles from their digestive tract or throat.
weber is aware of at least 38 reports and reviews of these wire bristles detaching, including 4 reports of injuries requiring surgery. this is interesting wording, that “at least” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
this danger is not unique to weber metal wire grill brushes. metal wire grill brushes from many different stores, websites, brands, manufacturers, importers etc have been named in unsafe product reports. wire bristles become lodged in food and then eventually in people’s bodies, resulting in horrific injuries.
I (rune!!!!) went and checked saferproducts.gov for incident reports of metal bristles detaching from grill brushes. the list wound up being fairly graphic and also extremely long, so they are under the cut. so for most of you, this is where we part.
but for those of you ready to read about detailed injuries, including those from other dangerous models of metal wire grill brushes, here we fucking go. reminder: these are only successful, vetted reports that were submitted specifically to saferproducts.gov. they required a specific, detailed process to be accepted. these injuries are undoubtedly far more numerous than the number of reports.
and despite the MANY non-weber metal wire grill brushes named in these incident reports…none of the dangerous grill brushes described below have apparently been recalled, at least according to CPSC.gov, aside from the 6 weber grill brushes described above. weber’s recalled metal wire grill brushes are not even the ones involved in the most numerous or gruesome injury reports summarized below the cut.
This is a long post to say basically STOP using ALL wire grill brushes on your grills, PERIOD. They’re useful for cleaning other things, but should not be used for cleaning any surface that comes into direct contact with things you intend to be ingested. Wire brushes shedding bristles has been a known issue for many years now, and is not a result of any defect or faulty manufacturing; much like any brush that is a bound cluster of fibers (in this case wires) it will eventually shed individual fibers as it’s used.
Your best bet for cleaning is grill cleaner made specifically for the job + a normal scouring pad + a flat scraper for stubborn bits. This was how we deep cleaned our equipment in a professional kitchen and it’s all you need. Be safe, and here’s to a great upcoming grilling season!
A good reminder in these times that even when powerful men act with impunity to do evil, tossing out callous orders left and right, that at the end of the day those powerful men often depend on ordinary, low-level workers to push a button somewhere, to flip a switch, to pull a trigger… and that those ordinary individuals have the power to say “no.” You can refuse to push the button, and you might save countless lives in the process.
ALSO a good timely reminder that automated systems can be wrong!!!! Sensors can be tripped incorrectly! Data can get corrupted! Electronics can fail! Machines shouldn’t make decisions!!!! There needs to be at least one human (ideally more than one for big decisions!) assessing the machine’s output, weighing it against other sources of information and the potential consequences, and making a rational, moral decision. Not just logical: RATIONAL.
My wife (ao3) is still not awoken from her slumber (maintainance), how long mist i go without my beloved, the love of my life, and the light in the darkest tunnel (made up gay people kissing)
This IS really bad - people are going to be doxxed, people are going to be stalked. This is a privacy nightmare.
Basically:
Amazon allows public wishlists for individuals, previously fulfilled through Amazon. This was a fairly private way to receive items anonymously from donors/fans/people online
Amazon is now allowing these lists to be fulfilled by third-party sellers.
Amazon will provide your name and address to said third party sellers
Third party sellers may or may not post tracking updates (aka: your address) to the person who ORDERED the item from your wishlist
Third party delivery companies may also post their delivery photos - of your front door and house number - and send them to the person who ordered the gift.
If you use public Amazon wishlists, turn them private or remove your address. The only private way to use these going forward will be via PO box (unless they roll back this change).
Their metrics showed that — in addition to providing over 1.7 billion meals to 40 million people in need globally — food banks also diverted an estimated 1.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
By intercepting unspoiled food destined for the landfill, and redistributing food from local farms and wholesale produce markets, the 2023 report offered evidence that community-led solutions to addressing global hunger can also help protect the globe itself.
“Nearly a third of the world’s food is lost or wasted at the post-harvest, retail, and consumer levels, never reaching the people who need it,” the GFN team wrote in the report.
“Food loss and waste proves costly for producers, takes up space in landfills, and emits harmful greenhouse gases, intensifying climate change.”
Reading this was one of those “oh duh!” moments for me. Despite being aware that food systems and food waste are major sources of fossil fuels, I had mentally placed food banks in a “addressing non environmental problems” category. But of course, food banks make our food system more efficient and less wasteful by making the most out of the food was have already produced.
This is just another example of so many of our problems being connected. Donating to a food bank doesn’t just address food insecurity, it’s also a powerful force for reducing food waste and carbon emissions.
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