I bought two items at my not so LHS today that have warnings on them stating they contain chemicals know by the state of CA to cause cancer. One I can understand it is a bottle of Ambroid Pro Weld. But the other is a Branchline Trains Blueprint series Reefer. What is the deal with these warnings and why is CA having that stuff printed on there?
I’m only here two or three times a month, but this topic was discussed, torn to shreds and forgotten a few months ago. Apparently eating poison and toxic things may also cause cancer. Somebody tell Arnold that mercury kills as well and that IS A PROVEN FACT!
My best guess would be that the paints used contain miniscule amounts of some chemical which, when injected into lab rats in massive amounts, causes cancer. At least that’s usually the rationale beind these warnings.
Best!
A million years ago, they banned cyclemates(sp?) because they caused cancer in lab mice. First thing I, as a kid, said, “Don’t they think poking a needle into a mouse ten times a day might cause cancer?”
Actually, they made the poor beasties consume an amount equivalent to a human drinking a 55 gallon drum of diet Pepsi every day.
That was during the time of the influence of the infamous Kefauver Amendment, which required removal from the human food chain of, “Any chemical which could cause cancer in a laboratory animal.” Since the type of lab animal wasn’t specified, it could be anything from an aardvark to a zebra, including things with totally non-mammalian biochemical processes like iguanas and sea turtles. There began a feeding frenzy among university laboratories, each trying to find something that was in common use that could be concentrated enough to cause critters that had been specifically bred for cancer susceptibility to develop microtumors before they died of old age. Finally, somebody succeeded in proving that saccharine was also a carcinogen.
At that point, the weight-conscious rebelled. Shortly thereafter, the hullabaloo faded away.
Later, the lemmings voters of California adopted the labeling requirement you mentioned - on about equally valid scientific evidence. To avoid the penalties specified in the law, manufacturers and distributors simply slapped the labels on just about everything that might find its way to California.
A mandatory tattoo on every baby’s butt reading, WARNING! Being born is guaranteed to be 100% fatal, would make just about as much sense.
We are warned that cancer deaths are a large and growing statistic. What the Chicken Littles don’t mention is that the average person can now expect to live long enough to develop cancer…
Chuck (former California resident modeling Central Japan in Septembe
[:)]
I just found it odd that a model train car would have that warning on it. If it was hazardous enough to cause cancer you’d figure that the manufacture would not market it. My wife saw it and said “See I told you that model railroading is bad for your health!!” lol.
California’s goal is to have that label pasted on everything. Be glad you don’t have to get one tattooed on your forehead. Yet.
All the label is is a requirement for the product to be sold in the state of California. They have been doing this for many years. I guess pesonally, I would rather know that the product has potentially harmfull ingredients in it. If a person is really concerned about the product, you can get an MSDS that will list the ingredients, what the risk is, and proper handling and use of the product. I believe it is better to err on the side of caution when possible. It is a portion of the “Right to Know”, particularly in the workplace. Employers must have the MSDS for most products used in the workplace as a matter of law.
I wouldn’t be very worried about most products, but do find out and know the risks involved with products, and I’m not just talking about hobby stuff…
Odd…I thought reefer was legal in California??[%-)]Pretty soon they’ll have warning labels that warn you about the glue on the warning labels!
(I want my Saccharin back!)
The law in question was Prop 65, passed by the people of California in 1986. Any product that contans a chemical on the lengthy prop 65 list must carry the warning:
“WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.”
Because there’s no penalty for using the label when it isn’t required, some manufacturers post it “just in case,” even if they aren’t sure it is needed.
Yes, it’s stupid.
For Prop. 65, you can thank Tom Haden (ex-husband of Hanoi Jane) and his political allies.
Just stay out of California and you will be OK. Just rember that drinking too much milk causes cancer too …
Was the warning in Spanish too?
Actually, the reason is that out here in California, we’re supposed to have a life-span long enough that we’ll ALL eventually die of cancer. This is assuming that we don’t all die of lung congestion from all of the forest fires, or SUV exhaust this year. Or get swallowed up in the next earthquake that the Pundits from New York are still predicting will send the state sliding into the Pacific Ocean (obviously the Pundits have never studied Plate Tectonics, or they’d realize, like all of us out here, that earthquakes are RAISING the elevation of the state, not sliding it into the deep blue sea).
Don’t let the warnings bother you. They sure as **** don’t bother us–we’re laughing as hard as the rest of you.
Tom [:P]
Maybe they are just being prototypical. Almost every locomotive (the real ones) that I’ve been on have a sticker somewhere that says how diesel exhaust is known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, baldness, warts, etc. Ok, maybe not baldness or warts, but you get the idea. It also says the proposition number, but I can’t remember it off the top of my head. (Probably memory loss from the diesel exhaust.)
Jeff
Warning: Don’t eat the Box Car you may choke!
Had an interesting issue raise it’s head at work regarding MSDS’s and found out some of the warnings are over rated by the manufacturers to protect their liability. Additionally some chemicals contained in paints are harmful if airborne as in a particulate state but are quite safe when in liquid or dried form. However the MSDS doesn’t differentiate this and still considers it a hazard though inert when in liquid or dried state.
Saying that, if you do as the maker says you are safe. So read the above warning and pay heed cause you will choke on a N or HO scale boxcar if you eat it. I’m not so sure about S or O guage as the test results aren’t back yet…
I do believe in safety but only if tempered with common sense.
Fergie
I’ve got a good one. Being in the Navy we have all kinds of crazy stuff. I think the stupidest is the MSDS for soapy water. We have a leak test compound that is no kidding dishwashing detergent mixed with water that we squirt onto flanges and such to detect leaks. We have to wear eye protection + a face shield and rubber gloves to use it. So we always joke that after using the head to put your PPE on to wash your hands. And don’t forget the face shield when doing you dishes.
As long as we are stating reality here I have an even better one than soapy water. It was the one for distilled water we put in our lead-acid battaries in the power production career field in the Air Force. Yes there is a MSDS for distilled water, several actually if you consider that there is one for each manufacturer of the product. Ready??? if you spill it you dilute it with water, and if it catches on fire you put it out with water. I don’t remember if you needed the apron, face shield and gloves, as that was the normal thing to wear when servicing battaries, but I would guess you would need them. It did not say that if a 55 gal drum of the stuff may result in a crushing hazard when dropped on you from a fork lift…
I am sure the paint on most products do meet the california requirements for their warning label, and it is so overused as to loose its meaning. If you work in the factory that makes the paint, and probably the plastic as well you do need the MSDS. In a production facility you should know that information, but not at the consumer level.
Paul
Dayton and Mad River Railroad
Where there is no distilled water, but plenty of plastic. If I move to CA I should label my model railroad. I am suprised it doesn’t have to be stamped into the plastic so the warning can’t be lost. TDo the same police patrol for this that patrol for the missing tags from pillows and mattresses?
You’ll be OK as long as you don’t eat your models or layout.