This MUST be a Joke!! ...Nope!

[JazzBass]

Bought a new C.S Osborne #70 round knife, and was making this sheath for it when I actually read the warning sticker:

 

#1 - I'd like to know how this knife can have a cancer risk
#2 Reproductive harm? I assume that they mean in some way other than dropping it in your lap.

Yes, it seems like a joke, but I went to the website listed, and it is indeed about California Prop 65 warnings requirements, so, SOMEBODY is serious about this.
Which makes it even more of a joke, depending on how you look at it. Odder still, C.S. Osborne is in New Jersey, yet a seller in CA was apparently required to affix this dire warning. Hmm...

One question - we've all seen ridiculous warnings. (go buy a ladder), but they generally have SOMETHING to do with the function of the item itself. Can anyone top this one for preposterously absurd irrelevance??
 

[LatigoAmigo]

51 minutes ago, JazzBass said:

Can anyone top this one for preposterously absurd irrelevance??

Obviously someone is just trying to be funny.

[YinTx]

Yeppers.  Even when you try to sell something on Ebay, you are asked if it is a Prop 65 item.  If everything is a warning, then nothing becomes important.  Impossible to tell what is really dangerous vs. what isn't.  Another case of how laws are not necessarily logical.

YinTx

[LatigoAmigo]

16 minutes ago, YinTx said:

Another case of how laws are not necessarily logical.

Another case of lawyers looking for work, and businesses simply trying to protect themselves.

[bermudahwin]

It probably relates to glues and garnishes used, I am shocked it doesn't warn you it may be sharp.

I bought peanuts in the US that kindly warned me they "may" contain nuts.

H

[JazzBass]

1 hour ago, hwinbermuda said:

I bought peanuts in the US that kindly warned me they "may" contain nuts.

That should be the warning for the California State legislature.

[fredk]

I bought a new steam iron. The type for smoothing clothes.

Warnings on it were: a. to keep water away from it,  b. not to iron clothes whilst wearing them

[Tugadude]

I worked for a chemical manufacturer.  On new products, the packaging had to be evaluated by a team in both the U.S. and then Germany (where the parent company resided).  The process would take up to 3 months and one of the main reasons was legal conformance.  Companies with deep pockets are easy targets for lawsuits and even smaller ones like C.S. Osborne must take great pains to prevent themselves from being easy marks.

What bothers me is when the warnings cease to be about helping people stay healthy and companies shielding themselves from tort action.  How is that really helping anybody?  

It is sort of how everything is "green" these days.  It went from a good thing to simply a marketing ploy.

[Chakotay]

Stay calm!! Slowly back away from the knife...

Silly, but manufacturers have to do this because their products may end up in California, which has a huge, ever-changing list, of chemicals they're protecting us from. 

fyi:  Brass: contains lead. Stainless Steel: Chromium. Both known carcinogens. So just don't consume your knife and you'll be fine. ---j

[Mattsbagger]

3 hours ago, fredk said:

I bought a new steam iron. The type for smoothing clothes.

Warnings on it were: a. to keep water away from it,  b. not to iron clothes whilst wearing them

Yep because someone somewhere did it and sued someone. I say remove all warning labels and let things sort themselves out.