Q I cooked a turkey and the meat thermometer fell out and broke. Can I eat the turkey?
A Probably. It depends on whether you are worried about exposure to mercury or to undercooked meat.
Any thermometer made for food (or other uses) and bought in the last couple of decades won't have mercury in it, so there's no health risk from that aspect, said Doug Schultz of the Minnesota Health Department.
If you don't know if the bird was cooked to the correct temperature, look at the meat. If it looks cooked -- it's not pink, liquidy or bloody -- it's likely safe to eat.
The issue with turkey tends to be with the stuffing, said Schultz. It's best to cook stuffing separately to make sure it and the bird are thoroughly cooked.
SSA dependents Q When did Social Security start paying benefits to dependents?
A The original Social Security Act of 1935 provided only retirement benefits, and only to the worker. Amendments adopted in 1939, however, made a fundamental change in the Social Security program. They added two categories of benefits: payments to the spouse and minor children of a retired worker (so-called dependents' benefits) and survivors' benefits paid to the family in the event of the premature death of a covered worker.
This pivotal change transformed Social Security from a retirement program for workers into a family-based economic security program. (The 1939 amendments also increased benefit amounts and accelerated the start of monthly benefit payments to 1940.) The 1939 amendments are probably second in importance only to the original act itself in shaping Social Security in the United States.
