Timequake

I bought some brown Salsa bar tape, brought it home and read the box. In big letters it said, "Warning: This product contains chemicals, including lead, known to the state of California to cause birth defects, neurological disorders, and cancer. WASH HANDS THOROUGHLY AFTER TOUCHING!" I did not add the caps and bold for emphasis!

Why in the world would they put toxic chemicals that transmit through skin contact in handlebar tape? I returned it, and I'm also bummed because it matched my saddle perfectly, but I'd rather have a mismatched bike than handle toxic bar tape for hours every day. Especially because I often eat while riding!

Just a heads up to anyone else considering Salsa bar tape.

Deontologist

It might have just a trace amount from some contamination in the manufacturing process. What the label doesn't say is whether the amount of lead in there will actually affect you. It also doesn't say anything about where the lead is and how stable it is. If it's just in the gel you might be okay. If it's on the fabric covering the gel I'd feel a bit more worried.

Also there's no repercussion for putting a false warning on your products. There however may be consequences when you don't put the warning on your product and your product contains trace amounts of lead or something.

delcrossv

That's due to Prop 65 in which the fruits and nuts in the People's Republic of California decided that any trace amount of a list of several hundred chemicals which may cause cancer in amounts orders of magnitude larger than what is actually present, needs to be disclosed. Just another example of Californian silliness.

Ignore it.

fietsbob

US Has More lawyers Per Capita than anywhere on the Planet.

jimc101

Doesn't this apply to just about everything sold in California?

obed7

I did not think contact with lead was a problem, I thought it was ingestion. The law however does not discriminate on that. I guess some of the tape could come off on your hand, and then you could put your hand in your mouth and swallow it. Well, you could.

Have you ever read warning labels that come with things and stop and think.."someone, somewhere, actually did that"?

Timequake

The whole "It's California, they caution against everything" comments aren't helpful. Not only is it not the usual, "This product contains chemicals that may cause cancer" warning you find on cigarettes, it strictly advises to wash hands thoroughly after touching, meaning the chemicals can and will transfer from the tape to your hands and not just if you ingest the tape. As an avid tourist and long distance rider, I am daily eating while riding my bike. I'm not going to transfer that crap to my food and into my body on a daily basis. I'm sorry, but someone with a grudge against the California state government on an online forum saying, "just ignore it" is not giving helpful advice.

Elvo

Prop 65 is an actual law: OEHHA Proposition 65

A lot of products may contain possible cancer causing or birth defect causing material. Notices are posted nearly everywhere - Disneyland, grocery stores, Toys R Us. They are covering their ass because there are significant consequences for not posting a notice.

Timequake

I am well aware of Prop 65. And while it may seem silly at times, ignoring a warning about an item that contains lead, formaldehyde, and other toxins/carcinogens that will most certainly transfer to your hands and then to your food is simply foolish. Yes, I will not eat the lead paint from a sign at Disneyland, but gripping toxic bar tape for ten hours a day is another story.

While there may be significant monetary consequences for not posting a notice, I think the consequence of getting cancer is a little worse... Also, I can't really see a downside to informing the public about known carcinogens. Here's the list if you're interested:

https://oehha.ca.gov/prop65/prop65_li...ngle051115.pdf

delcrossv

Cancer from Wood dust- Oooooookkkkaaayyyy.

The whole point is there's a wildly varying amount of actual science behind what's on the list. Which makes it pretty useless. But feel free to be as freaked out as you'd like, it's a free country.

Timequake

Cue the DB bike culture: "You're freaked out about getting cancer from carcinogens? Harden the **** up, *****!"

KenshiBiker

Yeah, what's next? Are they gonna tell us we can get cancer from cigarettes?

OP. I don't usually eat while I'm riding, and if I do, the food is usually still in its wrapper rather than in direct contact with my hands (I also don't spend 10 hours a day on my bike). However, in your situation, I think your concern is warranted. I don't know the specifics of the bar tape, and I'm not a toxicologist, so I'd have to look up the lead ingestion risk and attempt to quantify it, but I would agree with your decision to find a more "benign" tape.

Mr IGH

Since the restrictions so complete to trace amounts and the fines/penalties are so onerous, most companies choose to give the warning to protect themselves from trolling lawyers. Another example of good intentions having unintended consequences...If you're worried, maybe you can use fruit rollups as bar tape?

Elvo

Your local bike shop and grocery store have the notice posted. So if you are avoiding all known carcinogenic or mutagenic at any level of concentration, you'd probably have to be far away from any inhabited areas.

cale

These sort of warnings are primarily for pregnant and lactating women. You couldn't possible build up the level of lead sufficient to cause bodily harm from the tape but a developing child can be hurt by even small amounts of lead.

delcrossv

Oh don't worry, cigarettes are listed too. Looks like I'll need to find a Prop 65 tag for my Nickel plated bike frame

I like the fruit roll-ups as bar tape idea though. Better make sure there's no food coloring in it though...

delcrossv

Nope , that won't help you. Radionuclides in the rocks, thorium dust from the coal plant in the air, etc. etc.... Face it, we're screwed.

Looigi

...asbestos in the air: https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/0...E&ei=5043&_r=0

Wanderer

unterhausen

I'm all for consumer warnings, but the way California does it doesn't really seem useful.

Deontologist

Huh? That's very possible. If you're an insulation installer (i.e. you work with fiberglass) you generally wear a respirator. The fine fiberglass particles can get into your lungs and really wreck havoc by cutting up your cells. Same with wood dust, carbon fiber dust, asbestos (I'm hoping that this rings a bell), and chimney soot. In short, any very fine particles that are inhaled in large quantities can end up hurting your lung cells.

You were probably trying to find a chemical explanation of how wood dust causes cancer. Well, there isn't really a chemical reason why it causes cancer. There's a mechanical reason though, and it's that it cuts up and otherwise irritates your cells on the microscopic level.

Deontologist

How about you email Salsa or otherwise contact them to find out more details about

1) Why there might be lead in the tape - is it just "accidental" exposure during the manufacturing process or is lead an essential component of something in the tape - i.e. the fabric, the gel, etc.?

2) Do they recommend the tape for your use scenario - eating while biking?

LGHT

I wouldn't worry about it much. I make pottery for a hobby and just about all my instructors have or still do work with raw lead that is mixed into glazes. Most of them have been working with the raw powder for 20 plus years. The only real concearn is breathing it in which is why all use respirators. Outside of that you can touch it, work with it in liquid glazes and just about every other form as long as you don't have an open wound. The air here in Cali is about 10 gazillion times worse than any product you can by, but you don't see them posting warning in the sky lol.