The EU briefly banned them as safety compliant. There was a large outcry.

Byline: William J. Kolen Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency.
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Associated Press (AP)

Through famine and flood, the Dutch have worn it for more than six centuries. Now bureaucrats may do what time so far has not: eliminate the wooden shoe from Holland's workplaces.

The European Union says traditional clogs - still worn daily by thousands of Dutch workers - must meet the same standards as the steel-toe safety shoes that began replacing clogs decades ago.

Without EU acceptance, the wooden shoe - a symbol of the Netherlands as enduring and endearing as the tulip  or the windmill - could fade into folklore.

``It would be like Paris without the Eiffel Tower,'' said Eelke Schereon, owner of a small company that machine-carves wooden work shoes in the northern Dutch town of Noordbergum.

``I have to admit these new regulations surprise me,'' he said. ``What's the matter? Our fathers and grandfathers wore these shoes. Now all of a sudden there's something wrong with them?''

In their quest to standardize thousands of consumer products ranging from computers to condoms, European Union officials have set a variety of guidelines that challenge European traditions.

Bureaucrats have outlawed exports of a popular Spanish brew known as oruju. They set minimum bacteria levels for cheese made with raw milk - a move French farmers contend could lead to a ban on Brie. They even tried to regulate the ingredients of British ``bangers'' - the sausages that serve as a national symbol - but were forced to back down.

Wooden shoes, which date to the mid-1300s, technically have been illegal in the workplace since 1995, when the 15-nation EU began requiring tests and certification. Some Dutch companies This is a list of companies from the Netherlands. See for lists of companies from other countries. Independent companies

since have been asking employees who wear them to sign disclaimers saying they bear all responsibility for injuries they might suffer in an accident.

Clog manufacturers claim wooden shoes have never been proved to have caused an injury. On the contrary, they say, clogs have protected farmers when cows stepped on their feet, and shielded road workers whose toes might otherwise have been crushed or severed by the collapse of a steel boot plate.

Intent on making sure the footwear of the past has a future, clog makers have hired the Netherlands' top research institute to see whether wooden shoes measure up to EU expectations.

This spring, the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research will run a battery of tests on clogs at its high-tech lab in Waalwijk in the central Netherlands shoemaking region.

If they pass, ``wooden shoes will go on,'' said project leader Jan Broeders, recalibrating machines so test clogs can be squeezed, bashed, scorched

If they fail, work clogs could vanish forever from the field and the shop floor.

``They'll only be able to make shoes for souvenirs,'' Broeders said. ``It would be a pity, as people have worn them for centuries.''

And still do. In this soggy country, wooden shoes remain the footwear of choice for thousands of farmers, fishermen, road repairmen, gardeners and artisans who swear by their durability, breathability and comfort. One recent German orthopedic study even declared properly carved clogs downright good for the feet.

Wooden shoes are environmentally friendly- a plus in a nation known for its environmentalism  . And they're cheap - about $15 a pair - no small selling point

Yet they have fallen on hard times.

Their popularity peaked after World War II, when 1,800 small factories turned out about 9 million pairs a year. Today, only about two dozen manufacturers remain, and many of the 800,000 pairs they make each year from native poplar  and willow are for tourists, not workers.

``It's already a dying industry,'' said Schereon, the wooden shoe maker. ``Without EU certification, working clogs are forbidden - and I've got no future.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Leo Leo, in astronomy
Leo [Lat.,=the lion], northern constellation lying S of Ursa Major and on the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun through the heavens) between Cancer and Virgo; it is one of the constellations of the zodiac.  Beehuiszen, 41, demonstrates the art of clog-making in his central Netherlands shop.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/DUTCH+CLOG+MAKERS+HEARING+FOOTSTEPS+:+FABLED+WOODEN+SHOES+FACING...-a083856775

I think the USA will repudiate the Constitution of 1787 in my lifetime.  Too many people never vote, last had a civics class at age 15, hear the Constitution cited as a trick or gimmick.   To argue Congress or the Supreme Court or the President can't do this or that because of the Constitution, is already ridiculed. 

Now it's bipartisan, Republicans are rallying to Rand Paul's idea that Congress end the natural birthright of citizenship for children of illegal aliens, because when the states ratified the 14th Amendment which says "All persons born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction, shall be citizens of the United States""-- well, they didn't MEAN it.  They MEANT to exclude children of illegal aliens because they're not "in our jurisdiction" if you redefine "jurisdiction"--we know they meant that after 150 years, because we're pissed off more than anybody has been, so, if Congress just stands up and redefines the Constitution, we don't have to obey it---

Add to that our insane debt, which can be voided instantly by renouncing the govt that issued it, and I think its a done deal.

yes it literally means "the law speaks to them" and they have to answer

the Pope does not have to answer to our laws

I can buy a gun in Missouri without answering to the laws of Nevada.

that is what it has meant for 150 years. 

now some wafflers and "living constitutionalists" -including GEORGE WILL who clearly can resign now, say "oh no they meant ALLEGIANCE".  Well no it doesn't.  Never has.

We can prosecute a Frenchman illegally resident on US soil for breaking into a car.  He is under our "jurisdiction" no matter how loud he sings the Marseilles in court

the weasels make the argument that reservation indians were always exempt--this ignores the fact that their separate status went with PHYSICAL BORDERS.  Geronimo and his kids and grandkids were not born US citizens--and they couldn't move to Philly and open a cheesesteak stand.  When Indians got citizenship, they could leave the reservation without a permit.

The authors of the 14th Amendment DID know about a wave of immigration - 6 million Germans, 4 million Irish and all Mexicans in California, AZ, Texas, NM, NV and Colorado were added to the Union.  They knew about the Know Nothings.  They saw riots against Catholics for being "foriegn".  The natural birth argument ended any test of the parent's "loyalty" once and for all.  Radical Republicans drew black and white lines on things.  Born in USA, citizen-- unless your daddy was British ambassador or otherwise outside US jurisdiction.

In WWI we lynched Germans.  In the 1920s we deported commies to Russia.  In the 1940s we interned Japanese Americans.  At NO POINT did we pass laws denying citizenship based on the condition of the paretns--tehy knew what Will tries to forget: the 14th Amendment forbids it.

this is superseded by the StrongArm Theory of Political Economy developed by Charles Luciano, Alphonse Capone and Mao Tse-Tung, in which the solvency of a note of credit is directly proportionate to the lack of balls on the part of the note-holder, who voluntarily forgives the obligation in exchange a lower incidence of violent crime.

> Undead wrote:

> As for the talk about revolution in the US he's not wrong its a pretty common topic now. :S most of the people I know are taking bets on who is first to leave the Union. smart money is on Arizona.... <

Did anyone ever watch Jericho on TV?

I think the Commies pointed the way.  When you consider that EVERY foriegn-backed hotel in Cuba is on real estate that was "nationalized" from other foriegners you can see the beauty of the system.  Same for all the investment in China.

yea well cuba pays 22% interest rates

> Einstein wrote:
> Russia also taught us about oil.

When we get free from the environmentalists yokes we will sell oil down to 1 Euro a barrel. <

Ten batches of sweet! (>o<)/
What? At this price the ozone layer can go plug itself...

/me pays with euro a lil

hmm seems flint is still wrong

Right now I actually prefer the dollar for the first time in four years. Euro is so crashing even European analysts are saying thr Euro will reach parity with the dollar in less than a year.