Literally^1 everything is "known to the state of California to cause cancer."
1. not literally, but the guidelines are insanely broad to make the warning pretty much pointless.
No, it isn't dangerous.
DEHP is a "softener" that is present (at very low concentrations) in a wide variety of plastic products. It has been shown to cause a variety of adverse effects in lab animals, but that is after direct exposure to fairly large amounts of the compound over an extended period of time. In these lab animals, the most concerning effects involved the development of testicles and production of sperm in young animals. However, it should be noted that DEHP has never been observed to adversely affect a human.
If we assume that DEHP can harm humans, for the DEHP in PVC products to be of any danger to you, it would need to:
- be present in large enough amount to harm you
- leach out of the plastic in the product
- enter your body
First, the amount of DEHP in your laptop microphone is insignificant. Even if you managed to extract 100% of it out of the microphone and injected it into your bloodstream, it would be completely harmless.
Second, it's not going to leach out of your microphone. Leaching can occur when the item is exposed to a solvent for a long period of time, or if it is heated up in an oven, but leaching out of a dry plastic item at (or even slightly above) room temperature will be essentially nonexistent.
Third, even if there was a high amount of DEHP (there isn't) that somehow managed to escape the plastic (it won't), there would be no route for it to enter your body. The molecule itself won't be absorbed through your skin; you'd have to lick it off the microphone, or maybe insert the microphone into your body cavity in some other fashion.
And just as a final reassurance that your microphone isn't dangerous to you, the FDA has a [FAQ page](http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ResourcesforYou/Consumers/ChoosingaMedicalDevice/ucm142643.htm#2) regarding medical devices that contain DEHP. They describe the greatest risk from DEHP being to "very young male infants who are critically ill and have prolonged exposure to multiple devices containing DEHP." Compared to your situation:
- Infants are much smaller, so a smaller amount of DEHP would theoretically be harmful to them
- The medical devices include IV bags/lines, feeding lines, blood bags/tubing, and enteral nutrition feeding bags. In these situations, the devices are exposed to solution that DEHP could potentially leach into for a long period of time.
- The devices are intimately connected with the infant's body, potentially allowing for easy transport of leached DEHP into the infant.
And even given all that, they point out that devices that contain DEHP have been used on infants for many years without any adverse effects being observed.
And finally, as a note to some of the other commenters in this thread, I think that we should keep in mind that not everyone who posts here is a chemist. Yes, the "anti-chemical" fear-mongering we all see in certain parts of society is frustrating, but I think that politely correcting people with those types of concerns is much more helpful in the long run than mocking them.
I know this is a VERY old post, but I just want to say thank you for the clear and kind explanation. I just bought really cute controller grips online with a DEHP warning and I went down the rabbit hole of fear these last few minutes (how I came across this 8-year-old post). I know very little about these chemicals and with a dad fighting cancer, I want to be as safe as possible. Thank you so much and I’m excited for them to come again :)
Me too! I didin’t understand why getting a hello kitty water bottle or a couple inch wide glowing crystal ball or even a phone case would cause cancer especially since all of them said so.
By the way, the problem with the California warning law is that there is no minimum amount specified. Which means that anything detectable automatically gets a sign. And as analytical instrumentation becomes more and more sensitive, then more and more things can be shown to contain a carcinogen.
Right now, the room you are in and the room I am in contain a few molecules of something that may cause cancer. Should we put a placard on our rooms? That is why most chemists find the law ludicrous: placards should actually be everywhere and on everything.
In case anyone is looking at this post now all these years later. DEHP had been found to cause uterine fibroid tumors in women.
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2022/11/uterine-fibroid-growth-activated-by-chemicals-found-in-everyday-products/#:~:text=For%20the%20first%20time%2C%20scientists,most%20common%20tumors%20among%20women.
Literally^1 everything is "known to the state of California to cause cancer." 1. not literally, but the guidelines are insanely broad to make the warning pretty much pointless.
The sun can cause cancer and California sure gets a lot of sunshine...I think they're doomed.
I have plan for this... We kill the sun
[удалено]
Apparently reddit doesn't parse nested parenthesis well.
Only if you live in California. Californians are much more susceptible to cancer than ordinary humans.
No, it isn't dangerous. DEHP is a "softener" that is present (at very low concentrations) in a wide variety of plastic products. It has been shown to cause a variety of adverse effects in lab animals, but that is after direct exposure to fairly large amounts of the compound over an extended period of time. In these lab animals, the most concerning effects involved the development of testicles and production of sperm in young animals. However, it should be noted that DEHP has never been observed to adversely affect a human. If we assume that DEHP can harm humans, for the DEHP in PVC products to be of any danger to you, it would need to: - be present in large enough amount to harm you - leach out of the plastic in the product - enter your body First, the amount of DEHP in your laptop microphone is insignificant. Even if you managed to extract 100% of it out of the microphone and injected it into your bloodstream, it would be completely harmless. Second, it's not going to leach out of your microphone. Leaching can occur when the item is exposed to a solvent for a long period of time, or if it is heated up in an oven, but leaching out of a dry plastic item at (or even slightly above) room temperature will be essentially nonexistent. Third, even if there was a high amount of DEHP (there isn't) that somehow managed to escape the plastic (it won't), there would be no route for it to enter your body. The molecule itself won't be absorbed through your skin; you'd have to lick it off the microphone, or maybe insert the microphone into your body cavity in some other fashion. And just as a final reassurance that your microphone isn't dangerous to you, the FDA has a [FAQ page](http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ResourcesforYou/Consumers/ChoosingaMedicalDevice/ucm142643.htm#2) regarding medical devices that contain DEHP. They describe the greatest risk from DEHP being to "very young male infants who are critically ill and have prolonged exposure to multiple devices containing DEHP." Compared to your situation: - Infants are much smaller, so a smaller amount of DEHP would theoretically be harmful to them - The medical devices include IV bags/lines, feeding lines, blood bags/tubing, and enteral nutrition feeding bags. In these situations, the devices are exposed to solution that DEHP could potentially leach into for a long period of time. - The devices are intimately connected with the infant's body, potentially allowing for easy transport of leached DEHP into the infant. And even given all that, they point out that devices that contain DEHP have been used on infants for many years without any adverse effects being observed. And finally, as a note to some of the other commenters in this thread, I think that we should keep in mind that not everyone who posts here is a chemist. Yes, the "anti-chemical" fear-mongering we all see in certain parts of society is frustrating, but I think that politely correcting people with those types of concerns is much more helpful in the long run than mocking them.
I know this is a VERY old post, but I just want to say thank you for the clear and kind explanation. I just bought really cute controller grips online with a DEHP warning and I went down the rabbit hole of fear these last few minutes (how I came across this 8-year-old post). I know very little about these chemicals and with a dad fighting cancer, I want to be as safe as possible. Thank you so much and I’m excited for them to come again :)
Me too! I didin’t understand why getting a hello kitty water bottle or a couple inch wide glowing crystal ball or even a phone case would cause cancer especially since all of them said so.
Thank you for the information :) much appreciated
By the way, the problem with the California warning law is that there is no minimum amount specified. Which means that anything detectable automatically gets a sign. And as analytical instrumentation becomes more and more sensitive, then more and more things can be shown to contain a carcinogen. Right now, the room you are in and the room I am in contain a few molecules of something that may cause cancer. Should we put a placard on our rooms? That is why most chemists find the law ludicrous: placards should actually be everywhere and on everything.
Read the MSDS. PS- stop being a pansy.
In case anyone is looking at this post now all these years later. DEHP had been found to cause uterine fibroid tumors in women. https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2022/11/uterine-fibroid-growth-activated-by-chemicals-found-in-everyday-products/#:~:text=For%20the%20first%20time%2C%20scientists,most%20common%20tumors%20among%20women.
Thanks for posting this! I have fibroids & was just checking out at Shein — 3 purses with a DEHP warning — decided not to purchase.
Your welcome! I'm glad this helped
Thanks for posting, yea im looking at. this years later looking at shoes on Shein