Killz primer contains lead?

[Xane T.]

I was going to start priming a small poplar shelf with Killz original oil-based primer, but when I went to buy some, the lid to the can had a warning that stated that the product contains lead. I've never seen this on Killz before. Is it some new regulation like they have on christmas tree lights where the amount is so small that it only causes cancer if you live in California while eating fifty gallons of it a day? I haven't found anything on a websearch, so I figure the labeling must be something very new. Has anyone else seen this yet?

[J. Clarke]

Read that warning again, very carefully. If it's like all the others I've seen, it doesn't say that the product contains lead, it says: "WARNING! If you scrap, sand, or remove old paint, you may release lead dust." Not sure why those are suddenly appearing on refinishing products--perhaps the government neglected to downsize some surplus bureaucrat who, having nothing better to do, decided to harass the paint industry into terrifying anybody who is about to paint anything.

[patriarch]

[e-mail] (Xane T.) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Are you referring to the new lead warnings on the tops of paint cans regarding lead exposure from sanding old lead based paint? THOSE warnings refer to lead included years ago.

I thought lead was excluded from paint maufacture years ago. There have been times, however, when I have been known to be wrong.

By the way, Zinsser BIN white pigmented Shellac universal primer does a great job on poplar.

Patriarch

[Xane T.]

Thanks for the replies. Maybe the label on the can that I read was damaged or misprinted because all I remember seeing is 'may contain lead'. I'll have to check it out again. I was pretty sure that lead was totally banned from paint these days.

[Andy Dingley]

It's impractical to _entirely_ exclude anything from anything, but the limit for lead in finishes is a tiny 0.03% and has been for some years

To quote Bill Knight, author of "Staining and Finishing for Muzzleloading Gun Builders" [on the subject of lead-dried oils]

"At that time the lead content of boiled oils was usually 0. 15 to

0.25%. The lead ingestion problem centered on paints that used lead pigments. In these, the lead amounted to 20-30% by weight. To fully grasp the silliness from Washington, look at the cans of urethane varnishes being sold today. They contain between 5 and 15% of a cyanide compound. The varnish is toxic if ingested before it is fully dry and, if it is burned, the smoke and fumes are highly toxic."

[B a r r y]

I've noticed that label on every can of paint I've recently bought. You're probably right.

Barry

[Stewart Schooley]

Lead in paint was banned except for artist's paint and certain industrial applications.

If you ever need some white lead paint you can buy it in tubes at art supply stores under the names of Flake White and Cremnitz White. It is also available for artists in large cans.

Stewart

Xane T. wrote:

[J. Clarke]

I hate to break it to him, but it is a cyan_ate_ compound, not a cyan_ide_ compound. The mere presence of "cyan" in a chemical name does not indicate that it contains cyanide or that it is toxic--see for example the use of cyanoacrylate adhesives in surgery. Polyurethane is somewhat toxic, but the main risk with the isocyanates used is that they are respiratory sensitizers, which means that you use them for 20 years with no mask and no problems and then one day you find that you've become allergic and can't be in the same building in which they're being sprayed.

As for the smoke and fumes being highly toxic, the smoke and fumes from most plastics, and from wood for that matter, are highly toxic. So what?

[George]

Anyone else notice that the warnings section of a tool manual is longer than the description and parts diagrams?

Maybe things will improve with an ambulance chaser as veep. Get one more off the street, anyway....