Carcinogenic Gotohs??

[dwasifar]

On a new package of Gotoh 510s:



What in the world could possibly be carcinogenic (or teratogenic) in a seemingly harmless set of guitar tuners?

[Osage]

Oil or most any other lubricant. Possibly the plating as well. It's mandated by California law to list anything on the P65 list but don't worry about it at all with a set of tuners.

[Blueser100]

I have found the Prop 65 warning on lots of things, including the Guitar Center listings of some cheaper acoustics. The warning was even on a paper journal book that Martin Guitar sent me.

[Wade Hampton]

It’s because it’s not healthy to smoke Gotoh tuners, even if you don’t inhale...

If you never smoke your guitar tuners, or sprinkle them like bacon bits on your salad, then you should probably be okay.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Bigredhog]

That’s a California state law and as far as they are concerned EVERYTHING causes cancer......Lived here for over forty years I’ll just say that’s just the tip of the iceberg of foolishness here.

[bufflehead]

Never vape a Gotoh. Never.

[redir]

Just make sure you install the tuners outside of the state of California, then you will be fine


It's true too that you might have to alter the size and or drill holes into the wood. Certain wood dust is known to be a carcinogen but a rat would probably have to ingest ten pounds of it to develop a tumor.

[Rockysdad]

*Living*, Is bad for your health.[emoji38]

[tadol]

So - there’s a website listed on the packaging that has a great deal of information about Prop 65, what needs to be listed, what the identified risk is, and how these materials make it onto the list. It does not prevent these materials from being used, but does make it possible for consumers who are concerned to know the potential risks of materials they are potentially being exposed too. Many manufacturers will add the warning just to cover their a- -es, no matter how small the amount of material involved, ‘cause there are way too many irrational people in the world -

It may seem crazy, but I prefer to think that having the knowledge, and being able to make informed choices is the greater good - those that don’t can simply ignore the warnings. And as far as cost, I cannot think of any item that can’t afford to add a line of print, or a small sticker to their packaging - and for most things, if you don’t know, the simple precaution is to simply not chew on them or stick them into any body opening.

[dwasifar]

Originally Posted by tadol

...and for most things, if you don’t know, the simple precaution is to simply not chew on them or stick them into any body opening.

Oh, now you tell me, now that it's too late to return them.

I will admit I didn't go to that website, because I imagined it to be just a giant list of materials that I would have to wade through and guess which one was in the tuners. But I suppose I should. Hang on a second...

[Final Jeopardy music plays...]

Yeah, I'm still not seeing it. They have it conveniently broken down into categories, but none of the categories seem to really fit:



Of those, the only ones that really have any connection to tuners are Petroleum Products (for the sealed lubricant) and Wood Dust. The tuners themselves don't contain any wood dust, so I feel like we can rule that out. And the Petroleum Products subpage is pretty clearly focused on industrial exposure:



So I'm still not getting it, I guess. Probably a case of legal CYA as some have already pointed out. But to paraphrase Dash Parr, "When everything is risky, then nothing is."

[Mr. Jelly]

Carcinogens enter you body and don't leave. They are cumulative. If your children's school asked them to handle material that is carcinogenic on a regular basis would that be acceptable to you? What if they did but didn't inform you because they didn't think it was a big deal.

[tadol]

Its quite possibly a warning about lead - many metal products have lead added to them because it makes it easier to machine the material and get a very smooth finish easily. I know thats true with key blanks (never let children play with your keys, especially if they might be inclined to put things in their mouth, and wash all hands after dealing with alot of keys - 30+ years as a locksmith here)

Its like asbestos - it was added to many products, like mastics and sheetrock mud, because it made it flow and smooth out more easily - now many places have to add warnings about prop 65 because their construction involved materials that are now known to be hazardous - lead is in plumbing fixtures, solder, paint, and many other things - asbestos as well - and the problem is a question of cumulative exposure. So, the thought is since we can't magically make it all disappear, make sure everyone gets lots of warnings.

If you do want to know specifically what in your tuners would cause them to be listed, you should contact Gotoh, and they can tell you. Sometimes, they have a few products that this really applies to, but to avoid errors of omission, they put the warning on everything -

[dwasifar]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

Carcinogens enter you body and don't leave. They are cumulative. If your children's school asked them to handle material that is carcinogenic on a regular basis would that be acceptable to you? What if they did but didn't inform you because they didn't think it was a big deal.

I don't think that is always true. Some carcinogens accumulate in the tissues, and some just do their damage through repeated exposure. Sunlight, for example.

But that doesn't really answer the question, does it? What I want to know is, what's carcinogenic about a box of tuners? If the label gets stuck on everything out of legal CYA instead of because there's an actual hazard, then the label becomes meaningless and it's not really informing anyone of anything.

So if my children's school (I don't actually have kids, but I'll pretend) asked them to handle material that was labeled carcinogenic, and the label is on all sorts of non-carcinogenic things, then it's hardly any different than asking them to handle anything else. The label does not provide useful risk information. If they were given Gotoh tuners to handle, I'd say okay; if they were given a box of powdered asbestos I'd probably say no. But in that case I'm basing my decision on information obtained elsewhere, not the label.

[jalbert]

As a resident of the Golden State, it would be so much more useful to have a relative rating level than a simple binary. How about a scale of 1 to 4?

4 = causes spontaneous genetic mutations upon contact
3 = handle with caution, repeated exposure is harmful
2 = don't eat/drink/vape it and you'll probably die of some other cause
1 = lifetime exposure might raise the likelihood of cancer by 0.001%

I need to go enjoy my coffee now.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by dwasifar

On a new package of Gotoh 510s:



What in the world could possibly be carcinogenic (or teratogenic) in a seemingly harmless set of guitar tuners?

It's California. They'd put warning labels on dimes advising of its carcinogenic properties, telling you not to ingest them- if they could find a label that would fit. [Political commentary omitted]