For the source text click/tap here: Bava Kamma 29
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It was stated: Regarding one who abandons his hazardous objects, Rabbi Yochanan, and Rabbi Elozar dispute this. One of them says that he is liable, and the other disagrees.
The Gemora comments: Shall we say that one of them is saying like Rabbi Meir, and the other like the Rabbis!? The Gemora suggests that they do not argue according to Rabbi Meir (they would agree that the owner is liable). Their dispute is only according to the Rabbis. The one who holds that he is not liable is in complete agreement with the Rabbis. The one who holds that he is liable maintains that when the Rabbis exempted the person who abandoned his hazardous objects from liability, they did so only in a case where its inception was done by accident; however, in an ordinary case, where one abandons his hazardous objects into a public domain, he will be liable.
We explore the legal aspects of hazardous materials in Halacha and modern law.