Health Concerns about Xmas Light Wires

[maradcliff]

I was looking at some xmas light sets at the store and the box had a warning. It said something to the extent that the wire insulation contains LEAD, which is dangerous in California.

WTF....... How can the INSULATION contain lead? Yeah, I know the copper wires are likely soldered to the sockets and possibly with lead solder, and most light bulbs contain lead solder on the tip of the base. (not these mini sets though). But how in the hell can the plastic coating (insulation) contain lead? That would be a dangerous condition and a shorting condition. I kid you not..... They used the word insulation, or was it the coating of the wires. Either way, that means the plastic part.

Of course, I dont live in California, so I dont have to worry about lead..... In fact in my state it's considered a meal if some salt and pepper is added... :) :) :)

I think CA is becoming a country within a country with all their laws and regulations....

Mark

[pawlowsk002]

m:

PVC in its natural state is hard. Wire insulation has plasticizers added, and various heavy metal salts, often containing lead, are added to prevent degradation of the PVC or plasticizers (degradation seen in old, stiffened wire that has been in the sun too long, or a cracking car dashboard).

Exposure amounts from this lead are extremely low. IBM found that wiping a foot of wire insulation with sweaty hands could pick up 0.7 -

5 micrograms of lead compounds. The usual daily intake of lead from diet and breathing, considered quite safe and normal, is up to 15 micrograms. (All plants contain some lead, as does airborne dust.) So don't be chewing on wire (allegedly some electronics worker was poisoned from such a habit. If you have a habit of chewing wire you got problems other than lead poisoning, bud). Don't get too overly nervous about it either. These California laws apparently take little or no account of exposure amounts, and so we see fasteners made from free-machining leaded brass with this warning. They are extremely alarmist and non-scientific, and actually do harm, because they dilute the impact of other warning labels by their ubiquity.

Cordially yours: G P

[Mark Lloyd]

Yes. I would be more likely to observe warning labels if there weren't so many. One string of lights can have FIVE warning labels this year.

[gfretwell]

You don't chew the wire, just the insulation. Yes it was common until this lead thing came up.

[Kurt Ullman]

Amongst consumers? You must hang around with some strange people...

[Frank]

CA is truly the land of the fruit and the nuts. Blame their draconian Prop. 65. If you do not disclose hazardous ingredients (according to their lists) in your product there are potential tremendous fines and bounty hunters that sniff your product and find something not listed can turn you in for a cut of the fines. Prudent manufacturers will disclose hazardous ingredients even if there is no exposure risk.

Like other responders wrote, as long as you're not chewing on these things, don't worry.

Fraank

[Pete C.]

Prudent manufacturers would refuse to sell to CA. And I and I'm sure a lot of others would rally to support such manufacturers.

Pete C.

[Jim Redelfs]

I respectfully disagree: STUPID manufacturers would do so.

Intentionally avoiding sales to the world's 7th-largest economy (California) as a form of protest against California's ridiculous labeling laws doesn't make fiscal sense.

I, too, would support them - for as long as they're in business.