General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWARNING: This product (vacuum cleaner) contains chemicals known to cause cancer,
Under IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS in the owner's manual for a Hoover vacuum cleaner.
WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm. WASH HANDS AFTER HANDLING.
Wash hands after handling? Seriously? on a vacuum cleaner? !
otohara
(24,135 posts)or a picture, all Hoovers???
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)RKP5637
(67,109 posts)Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)otohara
(24,135 posts)good one
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)XanaDUer
(12,939 posts)ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)Enrique
(27,461 posts)warning labels so common that it possibly defeats the purpose. My mom returned her Garmin GPS because of that warning. For the vacuum, it's probably lead in the cord, but you can contact the manufacturer to find out, or find their website.
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,838 posts)Whatever material it was made out of apparently was a threat to all life on earth as we know it. Perfectly safe to use as long as you didn't touch it or use it to distribute water to your lawn or something.
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)Kidding.
But I wouldn't be surprised if I see that warning some day.
RKP5637
(67,109 posts)these warnings are a WTF to me. It's probably the plastic they use. It's often a bunch of malarkey IMO.
KakistocracyHater
(1,843 posts)many products made in China seem to come with such warnings, or some just smell strongly. I recently bought a bathroom rug-had to keep the window open because it smelled so strongly, like a tire store, almost. A pair of fuzzy gloves also had the same strong smell when I Pulled on them, stretched them: I threw those away. The rug I still have
iemitsu
(3,888 posts)many items, including clothing, are treated with formaldehyde to insure that insects and bugs are not present in shipments to the US.
rugs definitely get this treatment.
KakistocracyHater
(1,843 posts)it smells more like a tire, & the listed material is polyester or some other man made fiber. I worry about it because-did you see online a woman got chemical burns on her feet after buying a pair of sandals from Walmart, she documented it with pics. Then there are the deaths of dogs & cats from Chinese goods; plus the leather sofas in Europe that gave people rashes
iemitsu
(3,888 posts)even the formaldehyde is not good for you.
who knows what could be causing your rug to smell so badly? can it be washed? if it can't be put in the machine you might consider putting it in the driveway on a sunny day and hosing it down. carpet shampoo and water might do the trick.
KakistocracyHater
(1,843 posts)will, thanks for the idea
arikara
(5,562 posts)took it out of the packaging when I got home and it smelled so bad that my eyes were watering. I packed it back up and left it outside until I could return it. I think it had to be formaldehyde. I tried on a blouse the other day and it stunk so bad that I was nearly sick. Couldn't get it off fast enough. I have no idea what kind of chemicals they put into the fabric.
I always return the stuff no matter how cheap just out of principal. Its all made to be disposable but I just don't agree with that, its wrong to be poisoning people, animals and the planet just to fill their pockets.
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)The one time I wish it had been Chinese made...
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)1. Hard to say what quantity or dose of an environmental agent could conceivably combine with other environmental agents to "cause" cancer.
2. The State of California is telling people it knows if something contains some trace or significant amount of such an environmental agent but does not know whether it will cause cancer to the specific person contemplating its use.
3. The law is just a warning. The government is reminding people to be careful but cannot say what particular environmental agents a particular person should stay away from. And the government of California is not going to measure and conduct experiments on each agent.
Smoking is known for sure to correlate very highly with cancer. Using a Hoover, as far as I know, is not. The warning alerts us to the fact that we should investigate further. That is all. A little common sense, please.
Ednahilda
(195 posts)applies to strings of Christmas lights - look at the box or the tag on the cord. It is in the plastic from which the cord is made. I'm not sure if the toxic substance can be absorbed through your skin, but if it's on your hands it can easily be transferred to your mouth or to your food.
At least it's labeled. GM food isn't.
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)used in making Christmas lights and hoses
KakistocracyHater
(1,843 posts)perhaps if more states had the warnings on it like CA people would demand better quality; sadly though I don't think even that would change the rich owner's minds. All they care about is money
tularetom
(23,664 posts)You might as well take your chances. Those warnings are so widespread that they are virtually meaningless. Like the surgeon general warnings that they put on packages of cigarettes 50 years ago that every smoker ignored.
Besides, by the time you saw your first Prop 65 warning, your system had absorbed enough of all this nasty shit that you were already screwed.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)It's a good idea to wash your hands frequently whether or not there is a Prop. 65 warning on things you have handled.
Personally I think it went too far, to the point where warnings are so common that people don't take them seriously.
lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)What are the stickers and the adhesives used to affix them made out of?
"Attention: nothing in this product is known by the State of California to cause health or reproductive harm. Except this sticker."
WingDinger
(3,690 posts)New chemicals have I think five years to add a warning, even if known to cause harm. This to allow market penetration of new products.
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)Not in the owners manual inside, which you can't read until after you purchase the product.
But we don't want an informed purchase. Oh, no. All we want is to avoid liability.
whistler162
(11,155 posts)hazardous to your health!
ms.smiler
(551 posts)to carry a particular Warning label. It is a domestic chemical product and I find no argument with California regulations.
I suspect but cant offer as fact, that such labeling is required more often with foreign made goods. Ill explain my suspicion.
I suspect your Hoover vacuum cleaner was made in China. Please check the country of origin. Lead is a cheap, versatile and useful substance. In plastic it acts as a stabilizer. Components of the vacuum cleaner are likely made of plastic. Lead is also used in China for manufacturing electric cords so they stay soft and pliable. I noticed the very same Warning label on a made in China blow dryer in a hotel where I recently stayed.
As Ednahilda noted, Christmas lights are a danger as well for the same reason, they likely contain lead. Please DO NOT permit children to handle strings of lights and yes please wash your hands after touching or handling them.
It might be tempting to consider California regulations a bit fussy, but a genuine health hazard remains a health hazard, especially on a cumulative basis. Since that one state requires such labeling, all product sold in the U.S. has that same labeling. Consumers across the country are made aware of a potential risk.
KakistocracyHater mentioned that made in China products often smell strongly including a bathroom rug and gloves he or she purchased. Formaldehyde is a carcinogen and is used in China to treat textiles. Textiles spend months in dark containers and months on ships traveling the ocean. Subject to darkness and moisture, textiles would otherwise be fouled by mold and mildew by the time they reached the big box stores.
In the U.S. we have regulations regarding the exposure limits to formaldehyde in the workplace but we have no such regulation for consumer products in the home. Consider your repeated exposure to foreign made textiles and then ask yourself if they should come with a Warning label.
As a business person situated here in the U.S. if I manufacture or sell a product that harms a consumer in some way, I can be sued in any court in the U.S. and be held accountable. The same is not true for foreign companies especially ones located in China. The Chinese government will not permit any foreign judgment to be exercised within their country and so consumers are unable to obtain redress for any harm done to them by companies in China. Manufacturers in China are free to produce goods with impunity. So I would like to see product labeling that notifies consumers of made in China goods, that with purchase of that product, they are assuming the cost of all risk of harm posed by that product.
On the silly side of product Warnings, I recall reading about a personal lubricant jelly that warned consumers not to eat the jelly and instructed them to apply the jelly to the involved body region. My forehead struck my desk as I was dumbfounded over the necessity of such a product Warning. Soon, Freepers came to mind and I could imagine them sitting down with the personal lubricant jelly and toast so I eventually came to understand that Warning label.
*To anyone familiar with my unrelated lawsuit, I am on the call list and waiting each day on a call to go to trial the following day. (Im fighting banksters.)
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)arikara
(5,562 posts)and good luck fighting the banksters!
Duer 157099
(17,742 posts)HappyMe
(20,277 posts)Being alive can cause death!
ProfessionalLeftist
(4,982 posts)Kablooie
(18,634 posts)(Think you can figure that one out?)
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)Kablooie
(18,634 posts)Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)Did you put a warning on it?
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Just be careful. It's fra-gee-lay...
Canuckistanian
(42,290 posts)I see special "California warnings" on many products I buy.
Some of them are on products I've bought for years.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)I believe that, as a matter of course, the CA EPA includes that warning for all products from China (and maybe some other countries) because of the unreliability of manufacturers' assertions about the ingredient of their products.
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)You owe me a monitor.
Heywood J
(2,515 posts)The most common culprit is lead. It helps me weed out the stuff I don't want to bring home. If it's unlabeled, it's unlabeled and there isn't much I can do about it, but I'm glad that at least some of the products are forced to be labeled. It's one step in the right direction.
If the label bothers you, you can always flip the box over.