In California EVERYTHING is hazardous to your health! That label goes on virtually everything.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
I don't really understand your question. I this something you want to learn more about? I bet ME can help you with this.
I just used a couple bundles of the ME track and had to peal off the stupid stickers. I often wonder how we survived growing up without all of these dumb little warnings...
Leave it to California....
Chuck - Modeling in HO scale and anything narrow gauge
My bottle of MicroEngineering's Rail Weathering Solution (a patina fluid that darkens nickle silver rail) does not have the now nearly-universal California warning (I have had it for a few years) but does say May be fatal if swallowed. Eye Irritant. Avoid contact with eyes and prolonged contact with skin. Contains selenious acid , cupric nitrate, ammonium flouride.
By the time that is applied to rail and rinsed off it is hard to imagine anything remaining that could be ingested. Maybe the California warning applies to the plastic ties? In any event the fluid that causes the weathering is likely to be the cause of the warning on the track itself. The warning makes no sense in that case but there it is.
Conclusion: don't put your track in your mouth.
Dave Nelson
dknelson Conclusion: don't put your track in your mouth.
Phoooey. Knawing on those ties was such a stress reliever.....
Bill
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig"
I recently bought a small wire brush at Lowes with brass bristles and a wooden handle that had the California health warning label on it. I'm not sure which components would be hazardous. The wood handle? The brass bristles? Regulation run amok.
Alphadawg01!
Thanks for the humor!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I'm a 'native' Californian--family has been here since the Gold Rush in 1849, and I can assure you that those "California Health Warnings" are the result of all the Politically Correct Crazies that have moved here from other states in the past thirty or so years. Just ignore the stickers. Most of us Californians do.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
I'm pretty sure that it's the brass that's the issue. Most brass is contaminated with small amounts of heavy metals, as well as what's supposed to be in brass. Brass wire brush? Bad. Rail - yep nickel-silver has same issue as brass and many other soft alloys - ? Bad.
So you gonna give up rail? I doubt it. Just be cautious with the stuff. It could put your eye out.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
They have those warnings at the front door of supermarkets.
Dont worry about it. Its just what happens when you let people vote on laws that they really know nothing about.
I expect the warning's there because, on occasion, some lead MIGHT appear. Ya never know.
So, would you like to explain how there was lead in your product, but you didn't warn people. At trial. So, if you put the sticker on, you did. Even if it's not there. Usually.
I believe it's called CYA.
Ed (who cannot remember his children gnawing on the possible lead-bearing paint in the apartment. And, yes, I think I would have noticed the tooth-marks)
Check this out, I tried to order MEK solvent from McMaster-Carr (HUGE warehouse here in Southern California), to thin Barge Cement to experiment with Central Valley tie strips. They have it there, but literally could not sell it to me because I'm in California.
Sorry, too bad for me. Want to use MEK? - Have to move out of California.
Uh, I'm not entirely sure that lead is the issue here. It's one of several possibilities, but before we jump to any more conclusions, even if it is lead...
Don't blame the manufacturers. They're not using products because it's cheaper to use ones with lead [or whatever it is] in them. It's just that science has advanced to the point that what was once undetectable is now routine lab work. I can't stand the genre, but surely you've noticed all this CSI nonsense on TV?
With the California law, basically anything that has a detectable level of lead or a number of other substances has to have the label, as well as products that don't actually have the offending substance in them, but are manufactured with a process that uses the offending substance. The idea was not to ban those things outright, but to make people aware of the use, who would hopefully switch their purchases to something else. The problem was that there were so many things that ended up with the label and really very few alternatives to many of them, so the logic of how this was supposed to work has broken down.
But no need for us to veer too much into the law. Safe to say that this particular label can be generally ignored as implying a health or safety issue with a product despite its wording. HOWEVER, read the other more conventional warnings and directions on a product. Those are frequently important and relate to hazards that are right in front of you.
Now the guy who has to smuggle MEK into the state has a problem, but other than that, it's just a label for most of us. Peel it off if it really bothers you.
Most of the ingredients to weather rail are poisonous. Selenium is the big bad boy. It is used in bluing all gun barrels etc. The selenous acid passivates pretty well on the rail as it does its "thing" to the rail.
California remains one of the most bizarre of states in many ways. Their over-protective nature assumes they are talking to a collective of 3 year olds and not adult citizens.
I guess for the rest of us, breathing in the vapors from fires involving large amounts of flaming model railroad track would seem like a bad idea and the thought of eating or constantly chewing on weathered model railroad track would also not be a normal activity.
Apparently for many folks in California, given their health department's postings, eating and snorting flaming track vapors remains a option they might normally consider and, therefore, need to be warned to avoid such situations and if they are currently involved in eating or snorting flaming track fumes that they should stop the activity in future for their health's sake.
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
jeffrey-wimberly In California EVERYTHING is hazardous to your health! That label goes on virtually everything.
If it was a laser-cut kit, that's almost certainly it.
Then again, to avoid possible problems, it's easier for the manufacturer to just slap the label on everything, rather than try to determine precisely what products need it. Bet even if this kit didn;t have any, other kits from the same manufacturer have soft metal castings for details.
--Randy
maxman jeffrey-wimberly In California EVERYTHING is hazardous to your health! That label goes on virtually everything. I had a small laser cut hand car shed kit that had that warning. I'm still trying to figure out what was hazardous. Maybe residual fumes from the cut wood.
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
After reading all of the above, I think that there should be a 24-sheet billboard at every border crossing into the Squirrel State, replacing the usual welcome sign:
WARNING! CALIFORNIA IS KNOWN TO CAUSE CANCER!
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
It's like the car ramps I bought years ago that had a warning label that they were not to be used to support cars. In our litigious society manufacturers are constantly playing CYA. Common sense no longer applies as a defense. I had a coworker years ago successfully sue the maker of masonry nails because they didn't put on the box to wear safety glasses - one of the heads popped off and hit him in the eye. That's why most people never read the labels anymore.
So a good idea becomes worthless through faulty implementation.
Enjoy
Paul
Here's another example of warnings gone amok:
Rooto Professional Drain Opener sold at Ace Hardware: "If you do not understand, or cannot read, all directions, cautions and warnings, do not use this product."
Well, if you cannot read, how are you supposed to know what the product is?
cacole Here's another example of warnings gone amok: Rooto Professional Drain Opener sold at Ace Hardware: "If you do not understand, or cannot read, all directions, cautions and warnings, do not use this product." Well, if you cannot read, how are you supposed to know what the product is?
And how are they supposed to read the warning? There are indeed times when I get really annoyed with the government (any government - federal, state, or local) wrapping us all in cotton wool...
---
Gary M. Collins gmcrailgNOSPAM@gmail.com
===================================
"Common Sense, Ain't!" -- G. M. Collins
http://fhn.site90.net
narrow gauge nuclear Apparently for many folks in California, given their health department's postings, eating and snorting flaming track vapors remains a option they might normally consider and, therefore, need to be warned to avoid such situations and if they are currently involved in eating or snorting flaming track fumes that they should stop the activity in future for their health's sake. Richard Richard: I used to have a bumper sticker that read: "WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA, NOW GO HOME!" But unfortunately, nobody paid any attention to it. Can't go outside anymore without being inundated with flaming track fumes. The state just ain't what it used to be, LOL! Tom
Richard:
I used to have a bumper sticker that read: "WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA, NOW GO HOME!" But unfortunately, nobody paid any attention to it. Can't go outside anymore without being inundated with flaming track fumes. The state just ain't what it used to be, LOL!
Those warning labels are sometimes hilarious. I work in a metal fabricating shop. We use welding wire in the MIG welders. There is a label to not stick any part of the wire in any orifice. Also, the CO2 bottles have a label on them to not inhale.
Just face it, being alive causes death.
Will
Yup, only one warning sticker needed for everything:
Warning: Life is hazardous to your health. Death will occur
The dumbest ones yet:
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
It's selective immigration, that's all. California is deliberately trying to exclude people who obsessively lick everyday objects for fun and profit. Discrimination!! Free licking for all!
Streamlined steam, oh, what a dream!!
cacole Rooto Professional Drain Opener sold at Ace Hardware: "If you do not understand, or cannot read, all directions, cautions and warnings, do not use this product."
That's wonderful -- I like the clearly communicated sense of exasperation in that notice. Those of us who operated on the late Mike Ziegler's Conowingo Central layout remember the sign on his big jar of pretzels: "If you are unable or unwilling to tighten the lid perhaps you should reconsider your decision to open the jar."
Now that we have taken various whacks at the state of California, let us at least concede that in years past many products including model railroad products, were put on the market without the least knowledge or concern about health effects. The various solvent based paints and cements are an example, and I still remember a very sobering letter to MR from a guy who did custom painting but was dying of cancer whose doctor strongly suggested the paints and lack of a good paint booth as the causes. MEK is by no means something to be taken lightly. The bland advice back in 1950s era Model Railroader articles to use carbon tetrachloride for this or that purpose -- and the next article probably sang the praises of asbestos in your scenery.
A small manufacturer could spend a fortune on testing to see exactly what is in the various products and compounds and by contrast, the "known to the State of California" notice is free -- and is proven to have no effect on sales.
I will remain in Kansas City and be happy and dumb and forget California exists.
Bob
I live on the other coast and the warnings are very similar.
The very large plastic tag on the wifes hair drier says in large red letters in several languages to "Not to be used in the shower" My thinking is the person that caused that label to be printed should have.
The insurance company at work made us apply stickers on the back of all our dump trucks and trailers that read in several languages (even Vietnamese) "Do not stand here while dumping" Also my opinion is that the person who would stand behind a dump trailer while dumping should stand there.
One thing the insurance companies and government has never heard of. Culling the herd!
Does,t the warning label itself contain products known to be hazardous? I bet I could make a fortune printing T shirts with the Cali warning label on it. But then I would have to put a label on the T shirt and a label on the label on that label and so on.
Well at least I don't live in California.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
One of the dumbest warnings I even read was on a container of catfish dough bait: Warning..Not for human consumption..The smell alone should been a hindrance.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"