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Posted by Mark Lloyd on December 2, 2006, 10:52 am
On 2 Dec 2006 06:19:17 -0800, pawlowsk002@gannon.edu wrote:
>
>maradcliff@UNLISTED.com wrote:
>> 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?
>
>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
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.
--
23 days until the winter solstice celebration
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com
"Unlike biological evolution. 'intelligent design' is
not a genuine scientific theory and, therefore, has
no place in the curriculum of our nation's public
school classes." -- Ted Kennedy
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