Powder on balloons

[Lucy090]

Hi all
It's my DD 3rd birthday in a couple of days it's encanto themed and have bought most of themed decorations off Amazon. One was a balloon arch which I've just started doing. I'm half way done and looked at my hands and they are covered in cream coloured powder. It says on Amazon it's from another country so I have no clue.
Does anyone know what it is and if it is harmful in any way
. Would be appreciated

It’s cocaine.

😂

“Another” country, hey? Must be dodgy 🧐

A quick google seems to say it’s some sort of talc to stop them sticking. Wash your hands and forget about it.

Hope your daughter has a lovely birthday.

Ricin

@JaneJeffer really are you being serious? Or are you trying to panic someone?
I have bad asthma and and anxiety, just scared that this powder going to harm me in any way.

This is really nothing to worry about, it’s talc. It’s to make things easier rather than to harm you. I hope you’ve finished the balloons now and that DD has a very happy birthday!

I totally understand anxiety, I suffer from it myself. But, it’s taking an unpleasant direction when you start to believe that something is more likely to be harmful if it’s foreign. People in other countries are not out to harm you and in most cases have safety regulations as good, or better, than the U.K.

Latex balloons have talk to help them release from the moulds in the factory. Hopefully you're using a ballon pump. If not I'd invest on one (they only cost about £2).

Talc, not talk. Or cocaine.

It’s talc so they don’t stick. And well done for contributing to the amount of plastic in our oceans

Haven’t you seen a powdery balloon before?? A staple of childhood birthday parties in years gone by I thought.

Shes not flushing them down the loo

For next year you can buy compostable balloons from the uk 🌍

And like PP I imagine balloon manufacturering is a similar process around the world

She must have been playing Cards Against Humanity recently

Please be mindful of how you dispose of these balloons afterwards.

That was unnecessary.

I'm allergic to balloons but not latex. I'm not allergic to normal talc. I have never found out what's in balloons (that's also in kitchen marigold gloves). Maybe it's that powder!

@Peony654

It’s talc so they don’t stick. And well done for contributing to the amount of plastic in our oceans

@uhOhOP

That was unnecessary

I don’t know. I think the environmental cost of importing an Encanto-themed balloon-arch for a 3 year old’s birthday party is worth pointing out.

Yep, I agree. The OP asked if it was harmful, and of course it is.

Talc is carcinogenic, so I hope it's not talc, but some other white powder not cocaine

The OP asked if the white powder on balloons is harmful, not if the purchase and use of balloons is harmful to the environment...

And of course, we're all writing these posts on wax tablets with biodegradable wooden styli ...

Yes I was deadly serious. You can't be too careful.

It is harmful. Talc is being banned right across the world: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/johnson-talc-baby-powder-sales-b2143690.html

It’s probably talc, it’s not ideal to put it near your mouth given that it sometimes contains a trace of asbestos but a one off won’t matter.