diff --git a/core/canary.go b/core/canary.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 69db18e582..0000000000
--- a/core/canary.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,51 +0,0 @@
-// Copyright 2015 The go-ethereum Authors
-// This file is part of the go-ethereum library.
-//
-// The go-ethereum library is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
-// it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
-// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
-// (at your option) any later version.
-//
-// The go-ethereum library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
-// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
-// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
-// GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
-//
-// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
-// along with the go-ethereum library. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
-
-package core
-
-import (
-	"math/big"
-
-	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common"
-	"github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/core/state"
-)
-
-var (
-	jeff      = common.HexToAddress("959c33de5961820567930eccce51ea715c496f85")
-	vitalik   = common.HexToAddress("c8158da0b567a8cc898991c2c2a073af67dc03a9")
-	christoph = common.HexToAddress("7a19a893f91d5b6e2cdf941b6acbba2cbcf431ee")
-	gav       = common.HexToAddress("539dd9aaf45c3feb03f9c004f4098bd3268fef6b")
-)
-
-// Canary will check the 0'd address of the 4 contracts above.
-// If two or more are set to anything other than a 0 the canary
-// dies a horrible death.
-func Canary(statedb *state.StateDB) bool {
-	var r int
-	if (statedb.GetState(jeff, common.Hash{}).Big().Cmp(big.NewInt(0)) > 0) {
-		r++
-	}
-	if (statedb.GetState(gav, common.Hash{}).Big().Cmp(big.NewInt(0)) > 0) {
-		r++
-	}
-	if (statedb.GetState(christoph, common.Hash{}).Big().Cmp(big.NewInt(0)) > 0) {
-		r++
-	}
-	if (statedb.GetState(vitalik, common.Hash{}).Big().Cmp(big.NewInt(0)) > 0) {
-		r++
-	}
-	return r > 1
-}
diff --git a/miner/worker.go b/miner/worker.go
index a5e2516fe4..c5fb82b45d 100644
--- a/miner/worker.go
+++ b/miner/worker.go
@@ -351,19 +351,15 @@ func (self *worker) wait() {
 	}
 }
 
+// push sends a new work task to currently live miner agents.
 func (self *worker) push(work *Work) {
-	if atomic.LoadInt32(&self.mining) == 1 {
-		if core.Canary(work.state) {
-			glog.Infoln("Toxicity levels rising to deadly levels. Your canary has died. You can go back or continue down the mineshaft --more--")
-			glog.Infoln("You turn back and abort mining")
-			return
-		}
-		// push new work to agents
-		for agent := range self.agents {
-			atomic.AddInt32(&self.atWork, 1)
-			if agent.Work() != nil {
-				agent.Work() <- work
-			}
+	if atomic.LoadInt32(&self.mining) != 1 {
+		return
+	}
+	for agent := range self.agents {
+		atomic.AddInt32(&self.atWork, 1)
+		if ch := agent.Work(); ch != nil {
+			ch <- work
 		}
 	}
 }