Are my new eye bolts going to give me cancer?
November 3, 2013 1:15 PM Subscribe
I just bought a little bag of eye bolts that I intend to use to keep a screen door inside my house open. After purchasing them, I glanced at the bag and noticed a cancer warning. Uh, WTF? Is it just saying that if I ever decide to eat some eye bolts, it shouldn't be these eye bolts, or is there an actual cancer risk just from having them screwed into a door and frame in my house? And what chemical or chemicals might be involved? Details inside.
The company and/or brand name is "Everbilt". I purchased them at Home Depot. They were made in China, for Home Depot. They claim to be "Stainless", which I had assumed, perhaps without warrant, meant they were made of stainless steel. The warning says:
WARNING:
This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
The company and/or brand name is "Everbilt". I purchased them at Home Depot. They were made in China, for Home Depot. They claim to be "Stainless", which I had assumed, perhaps without warrant, meant they were made of stainless steel. The warning says:
WARNING:
This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
I saw one of those warnings at Starbucks the other day. Apparently, the roasting process introduces (to all coffee) chemicals known to the State of California to be harmful. Due to their ubiquity, I do not take those warnings very seriously.
posted by salvia at 1:21 PM on November 3, 2013
posted by salvia at 1:21 PM on November 3, 2013
Yeah, "contains chemicals" is different from "exposes you to chemicals in normal use". You're fine.
posted by Etrigan at 1:21 PM on November 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Etrigan at 1:21 PM on November 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Do not gnaw eyebolts.
posted by amanda at 1:23 PM on November 3, 2013 [12 favorites]
posted by amanda at 1:23 PM on November 3, 2013 [12 favorites]
Everything is known to the State of California to cause cancer.
I heard on the local NRP station or the California Report recently that a legislator is trying to modify the law to make the signs more relevant. Apparently there are lawyers that look for places and things that do not carry the warning and sue them. So in an abundance of caution everything has the label on it so they don't get sued. Applying the label is voluntary so Home Depot may have its vendors apply the label on things that could possibly have lead or use lead in the production of it.
If you make a habit of eating eye bolts, getting cancer from them is probably the least of your worries.
posted by birdherder at 1:32 PM on November 3, 2013 [3 favorites]
I heard on the local NRP station or the California Report recently that a legislator is trying to modify the law to make the signs more relevant. Apparently there are lawyers that look for places and things that do not carry the warning and sue them. So in an abundance of caution everything has the label on it so they don't get sued. Applying the label is voluntary so Home Depot may have its vendors apply the label on things that could possibly have lead or use lead in the production of it.
If you make a habit of eating eye bolts, getting cancer from them is probably the least of your worries.
posted by birdherder at 1:32 PM on November 3, 2013 [3 favorites]
I agree with everyone above regarding the fact that the warnings are so ubiquitous to be meaningless, and that you're fine as long as you're not licking eyebolts.
But as for what is actually up with your eyebolts: stainless steel can contain, amongst other things, chromium.
Chromium (in drinking water) is carcinogenic. That alone could be enough to force a California warning, I believe.
Do not stir drinks with Happy Fun Bolts*.
*you would probably have to stir a lot of drinks, for a very long time to get a concentration and quantity of heavy metals sufficient to cause a risk of cancer from your gin and tonic.
posted by sparklemotion at 1:36 PM on November 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
But as for what is actually up with your eyebolts: stainless steel can contain, amongst other things, chromium.
Chromium (in drinking water) is carcinogenic. That alone could be enough to force a California warning, I believe.
Do not stir drinks with Happy Fun Bolts*.
*you would probably have to stir a lot of drinks, for a very long time to get a concentration and quantity of heavy metals sufficient to cause a risk of cancer from your gin and tonic.
posted by sparklemotion at 1:36 PM on November 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
The state of California requires any product containing a substance known ("to the State of California") to cause cancer to be labeled as such to be sold there.
Here's the list.
They don't require the manufacturer to tell you which substances it has. Most things probably have dozens of parts with Cancer Substances.
My guess is that it's the chromium in the stainless steel. Which is what makes steel into stainless steel.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:37 PM on November 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Here's the list.
They don't require the manufacturer to tell you which substances it has. Most things probably have dozens of parts with Cancer Substances.
My guess is that it's the chromium in the stainless steel. Which is what makes steel into stainless steel.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:37 PM on November 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
If you want to know if they're really made from stainless steel, try a magnet on them. If the magnet doesn't stick, they probably are stainless. If it does stick, they may be steel plated with cadmium, which is a heavy metal and not good to ingest, but fine on hardware you don't eat or cook with. Stainless is fine even for those uses.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:01 PM on November 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:01 PM on November 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
stainless steel can contain, amongst other things, chromium.
Stainless Steel always contains chromium. That's the definition of "stainless steel".
Depending on the type it can also contain vanadium, nickel, copper, molybdenum, and titanium.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:07 PM on November 3, 2013
Stainless Steel always contains chromium. That's the definition of "stainless steel".
Depending on the type it can also contain vanadium, nickel, copper, molybdenum, and titanium.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:07 PM on November 3, 2013
My apartment building has this sign in the lobby, as do many others I've been in.
GuyZero nailed it: "It's so ubiquitous that it's meaningless."
posted by Room 641-A at 2:14 PM on November 3, 2013
GuyZero nailed it: "It's so ubiquitous that it's meaningless."
posted by Room 641-A at 2:14 PM on November 3, 2013
It's often thought "all stainless is non-magnetic", however, it's not so. Even the non-magnetic grades can be made to respond to magnets by cold working, such as taking a rod and bending it into an eye bolt.
Lower grades of stainless exhibit response to magnets regardless of cold working.
here's a link on behavior of austenitic stainless
All Cadmium plating I have seen has a distinct yellowish cast, where stainless appears just silvery.
posted by rudd135 at 2:59 PM on November 3, 2013
Lower grades of stainless exhibit response to magnets regardless of cold working.
here's a link on behavior of austenitic stainless
All Cadmium plating I have seen has a distinct yellowish cast, where stainless appears just silvery.
posted by rudd135 at 2:59 PM on November 3, 2013
Another possibility is that they're cadmium plated, which isn't the same as stainless steel but does serve as rust prevention. It has a gold-to-slightly-rainbow appearance. Cadmium plating is essentially harmless in normal use (on fasteners, that is--I wouldn't eat from cadmium-plated dishes) but toxic while it's being applied or machined.
posted by pullayup at 3:17 PM on November 3, 2013
posted by pullayup at 3:17 PM on November 3, 2013
Labelling and perception of toxicity is a very regional thing. Back in the UK, Chrome 6 was "you might want to wash your hands after using this" and cadmium was a no-no. Here in Canada, Chrome 6 is the no-no, while the gold-ish Cd plating is everywhere.
posted by scruss at 3:25 PM on November 3, 2013
posted by scruss at 3:25 PM on November 3, 2013
1. Hexavalent chromium, which is what you've got there, was the star of the film Erin Brockovich, which took place in Hinckley, California and was based on a true story. It's not hard to understand the state being hyper-vigilant about it.
2. Eyebolts and whatnot are a workplace hazard. If your job involves grinding them all day long for years, chances are you'll inhale some, which can cause cancer.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:05 PM on November 3, 2013
2. Eyebolts and whatnot are a workplace hazard. If your job involves grinding them all day long for years, chances are you'll inhale some, which can cause cancer.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:05 PM on November 3, 2013
Boilerplate. Standard tort law disclaimer. Don't make tea from, snort, mine, inject, or grind for the purposes of vaporizing and huffing. Product is not suitable for piercing, probing or extraction of any kind.
I remember a lawsuit where a kid was injured riding his skateboard and his mom sued because the skateboard didn't have brakes.
I moved our office from one building to another [in California] and I had to provide the MSDS info. With just office furniture, printers, computers and copy machines it ended up being about five hundred pages.
posted by vapidave at 7:41 PM on November 3, 2013
I remember a lawsuit where a kid was injured riding his skateboard and his mom sued because the skateboard didn't have brakes.
I moved our office from one building to another [in California] and I had to provide the MSDS info. With just office furniture, printers, computers and copy machines it ended up being about five hundred pages.
posted by vapidave at 7:41 PM on November 3, 2013
FYI, I'm pretty sure that chromium in stainless steel will be metallic and in the Cr(0) oxidation state. Hexavalent chromium (which is indeed very nasty) is Cr(6) and mostly shows up in acid cleaning and plating solutions.
That said, I agree with everyone else - those prop 65 warnings are everywhere and pretty meaningless. Probably the presence of chromium in any state triggers them.
posted by pombe at 8:24 PM on November 3, 2013
That said, I agree with everyone else - those prop 65 warnings are everywhere and pretty meaningless. Probably the presence of chromium in any state triggers them.
posted by pombe at 8:24 PM on November 3, 2013
I'm sure that even Karl the Fog has that warning label on him somewhere - everything else in California has it.
posted by marylynn at 8:28 PM on November 3, 2013
posted by marylynn at 8:28 PM on November 3, 2013
Yeah, that sign is everywhere. Sometimes they just bolt it to the front door of stores. I think the coffee shop I used to work at had one. Which is kind of nuts when you consider coffee shops sell food -- if it meant anything, surely people would avoid food service establishments that had such a notice posted.
Install your bolts and move on.
I would avoid grinding them down and snorting them.
posted by Sara C. at 8:40 PM on November 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Install your bolts and move on.
I would avoid grinding them down and snorting them.
posted by Sara C. at 8:40 PM on November 3, 2013 [1 favorite]
Having worked for a company in manufacturing and importing, where part of my job was compliance and placing warning labels, I can tell you that there are over 8,000 chemicals on that list, even accredited laboratories don't really know what to test for in a product, and if you tested to .001% every product for all applicable chemicals, many hardgoods that are available for purchase in CA would double in cost.
As noted above, there are ambulance chasers who have built an industry around suing companies who neglect to place this warning on products and may not meet California's strict standards.
It's safer (for the company), cheaper, and less of a hassle to slap the warning on every product, based on the chance it may have something in it than to deal with fines, lawsuits and the high cost and hassle of researching for and testing every item.
posted by Debaser626 at 8:00 AM on November 4, 2013
As noted above, there are ambulance chasers who have built an industry around suing companies who neglect to place this warning on products and may not meet California's strict standards.
It's safer (for the company), cheaper, and less of a hassle to slap the warning on every product, based on the chance it may have something in it than to deal with fines, lawsuits and the high cost and hassle of researching for and testing every item.
posted by Debaser626 at 8:00 AM on November 4, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by GuyZero at 1:19 PM on November 3, 2013 [25 favorites]