I was looking for another 50 or 100 ft garden hose to carry along on details and everyone(and I have no idea how I noticed the first one) had on the packaging something like " Attention this product contains material known in the state of California to cause cancer. Wash your hands well after use." I guess my 2 questions are who has noticed this before and well are there any hoses that dont cause cancer?? ***?
Rinse your car and get cancer at the same time!!!1
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Junebug
JAFO
Everything causes cancer in the land of the fruits, nuts and flakes.
jesselyons2002
New member
I know it say it with anything with brass connected to it.
imported_themightytimmah
New member
Fortunately, the other 49 states don't know that it causes cancer yet.
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
It's because of the lead in the brass (leaded brass). CA requires anything with lead to be marked in that manner. Because manufacturers make products for the mass market, they mark everything that way, whether it's going to CA or not. It's pretty ridiculous, I got some Ethernet patch cables at work, and they had that label on them. After puzzling about what lead could be in there, I realized that the little contacts are brass...and then I had to go wash my hands after I plugged in the cable (kidding).
Junebug
JAFO
I don't fear death, I'm not afraid of catching cancer or anything really, I had a vision of my own death years ago and I know how it's going to go down, I'm going to get shot in the back of the head by a young jealous husband when I'm 92!
jesselyons2002
New member
JuneBug said:
Be fun if it that doesn't happen.
Junebug
JAFO
Yeah - like maybe he just gets mad and leaves, I don't need another hole in my head!
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
Alfisti said:
Adding lead is a common metallurgy practice to improve machinability, done in steels and brass/bronze.
tom p.
Active member
Give me a clean car or give me death !
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
Alfisti said:
I'm always a little puzzled as to why you would need to improve the machinability of brass/bronze, but perhaps the practice goes back to before carbide cutting tools. I'm kind of surprised it's still going on, but then again I guess most of the products using it are made outside of the US or EU which tends to be more environmentally sensitive (hence the labeling).
OTOH, I should temper my surprise at still commonplace use of lead in brass, seeing as compact fluorescent bulbs are all the rage now in every discount store and soon to be in every house, along with their mercury....how many of us have ever broken an incandescent light bulb in our lives?
This is another entry in that category of they spend 40 years trying to get mercury out of everything, so it doesn't pollute the oceans and wind up in our tuna, and now everyone's house is going to be full of mercury-containing bulbs! Along with all the carcinogenic and/or flammable solvents that fell out of use only to be rediscovered because of their low ozone depletion potential!
Glossy McGlosserton
New member
Check out this site: calprop65.com
This site tracks the lawsuits and chemicals that have gotten tagged by California's Proposition 65, which passed in 1986.
Prior posters are right that the metal connections were part of what was found to have lead in hoses. But the tubing also seems to have lead in some hoses, according to a lawsuit filed against Sears and some hose manufacturers. And there are a bunch of lawsuits against various products with PVC. PVC is nasty stuff: back in the mid-1970s, I wrote an article tracking the research linking PVC with liver cancer in the workers exposed to it during manufacture, as well as false hormone effects leading to sterility in males and birth defects in offspring of amphibians exposed to PVC, etc.
I found another site where organic gardeners had noticed the same warning on soaker hoses and were discussing it. One found a soaker hose of mostly natural rubber and polyethylene, no PVC.
What I found in my research back when, and think is probably so today, is that there are only a handful, literally about 6-7 families, of chemicals that are proven to cause cancer. Industry benefits from the apathy that comes from the idea that, "well, everything causes cancer, so why bother about it."
This site tracks the lawsuits and chemicals that have gotten tagged by California's Proposition 65, which passed in 1986.
Prior posters are right that the metal connections were part of what was found to have lead in hoses. But the tubing also seems to have lead in some hoses, according to a lawsuit filed against Sears and some hose manufacturers. And there are a bunch of lawsuits against various products with PVC. PVC is nasty stuff: back in the mid-1970s, I wrote an article tracking the research linking PVC with liver cancer in the workers exposed to it during manufacture, as well as false hormone effects leading to sterility in males and birth defects in offspring of amphibians exposed to PVC, etc.
I found another site where organic gardeners had noticed the same warning on soaker hoses and were discussing it. One found a soaker hose of mostly natural rubber and polyethylene, no PVC.
What I found in my research back when, and think is probably so today, is that there are only a handful, literally about 6-7 families, of chemicals that are proven to cause cancer. Industry benefits from the apathy that comes from the idea that, "well, everything causes cancer, so why bother about it."
Glossy McGlosserton
New member
About CFLs: it's too bad that they contain a small amount of mercury. But it is literally the equivalent amount of what would fit on the tip of a ball point pen. It isn't exposed to the atmosphere unless the bulb is broken, and then it is about 1/3 the amount of mercury guaranteed to be emitted into the atmosphere by the life operation of an incandescent, due to the lead emitted from coal-fired power plants.
Maybe LED lighting will come down in price quickly. Low energy use, no waste heat, and they'll last a long, long time.
But for now, I'll take a CFL burning 9-12 watts with no waste heat vs. an incandescent burning 40-65 watts.
Maybe LED lighting will come down in price quickly. Low energy use, no waste heat, and they'll last a long, long time.
But for now, I'll take a CFL burning 9-12 watts with no waste heat vs. an incandescent burning 40-65 watts.
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
Sherri, I understand how PVC manfacture can be occupationally dangerous, but is there science to say that the end product actually is dangerous to the consumer?