What’s with the Californian safety warning on TKMaxx products?

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I’ve seen these warnings on a number of TKMaxx products - something like “the state of California warns that this product contains something that is known to cause cancer”.
the latest is a bin - pic below.

I know TKMaxx is an american company (TJMaxx, I think) and can see how their stock would end up here but what is going on with these warnings?
how worried should we be?
should we have the same standard as California?
does everything potentially cause cancer?

I don’t think this is related to differences post Brexit as I think I saw these pre-Brexit

Coo that looks scary. Wonder if it’s to do with micro plastics? But it’s not coming in contact with food/drink is it!

I noticed these notices everywhere when I was in California. I also noticed it on a baby toy recently which I think was probably bought in TK maxx. I’ve always assumed it relates to the litigious American culture and someone covering their ass in the unlikely event something bad happens rather than there genuinely being a chance of getting cancer from a baby grow or anything.

So one warning that I saw this week was on a make up bag - it was just a toiletry bag, advertised as make up bag.

might be related to micro plastics, you’re right

Everything causes death in california. I've seen that warning entering a hotel because they use cleaning products / chlorinate the pool.

If it causes cancer why tf are they selling it?

It’s prop 65, applies to like 900 chemicals and has been state law since the 1980s and has to be on anything that contains these chemicals if it’s sold in California. Doesn’t say how much of the chemical is even in the product or if it’s even dangerous under normal circumstances. Like it has to be on lumber there because you could potentially inhale wood dust. Don’t worry about it.

This is such a common label in the US-California thinks everything causes cancer 😂 I once bought some (non-prescription) progesterone cream online from the US and it had that label due to the progesterone. I saw it on other things when I lived over there but forget what. If you bought the item here, it should be sufficiently safe.

https://int-enviroguard.com/blog/distributors-guide-to-navigating-proposition-65/

Have you looked at the website printed on the label? That has a FAQ that tells you a lot of what you need to know.
https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov/

And yes it’s almost certainly the type of plastic, but storing your make up in it isn’t the same as microwaving your soup in it, so it’s safe to use under those circumstances.

California has very strict labeling laws about all kinds of things. In this case, any item that contains something known to be carcinogenic must be labeled. However, it doesn’t make allowances for how it is carcinogenic such as inhalation, ingestion, etc. So usually the product is actually safe because you’d have to do something like eat it or burn it and whiff the fumes to cause a problem.

It’s similar to why American food labels are so long. Their laws are stricter about what has to be labeled and the terms that have to be used (usually the exact scientific ones instead of general ones like “vitamins”) so they look a lot different to what we see in the UK or Europe.

I lived in the US for a few years. This warning was on absolutely anything and everything. As I understand it there is a list of something like 1,000 chemicals and if a product contains any amount whatsoever the warning label goes on. But there is no distinction on amount or context - e.g. there is a world of difference between a chemical being in, say, a bed frame vs a drink.

California has warnings on pretty much everything.

Here are some bullet points to put this in context:

1. The UK has a very sophisticated health and safety regulatory regime
2. We can’t ever be certain of what causes cancer, it’s a risk we have to live with, but our regulators have thought about how best to minimise risks based on the available scientific knowledge
3. Americans are more litigious than British people so there is more arse-covering there

Yes- I noticed warnings on food even like pizzas saying to make sure it was heated until xF degrees or it could cause food poisoning

That's standard everywhere in the US.

Whatever you do, OP, never read the Daily Mail. Their editorial mission is to divide every single substance in the world into “causes cancer” or “cures cancer”. Most substances currently appear in both lists

Yes exactly

I hadn’t - Tbf this is the first time I’ve seen the website on one of these warnings

thanks everyone - seems like this one falls in the ‘everything can potentially cause cancer’ category!

Thank you!!!

Yep, Prop65 although it's gone very quiet at work about that after the initial argh, what are we going to do!

Guess I can continue to indulge my TKMaxx habit :D

Looks like universal arse covering to me.