I was reminded of this recently when seeing the California-mandated warning about “cancer and reproductive harm” on just about anything these days that contains metal, it seems. At one time flammable products like lighter fluid had a notice from the New York Fire Department that consisted, as I recall, of its initials and some numbers and punctuation that seemed to be the identification of a regulation or perhaps a permit number. I got the impression the notice indicated that the product and container were approved for sale in the city, and I assumed there was some sort of bureaucratic requirement for the container to be marked accordingly.

Anyone else remember that? It has been a long time since I saw the markings, but I clearly remember them because I vaguely wondered how large a container would have to be if every city and state required something similar: “New York City says it’s okay in accordance with regulation 124.567.876-001; Chicago says it’s okay …; San Francisco says it’s okay …; South Dakota says it’s okay …; ….”

And now there’s California’s health warning. Why not everyone else? Cali is the probably the biggest whiner about pollution from consumer waste, and if everyone wanted their similar warnings with the products, something like my new P320 FCU that I just received could come with a small phone book. Am I the only person that thinks about such things?

The California thing is so broad it is completely meaningless.

There are literally California cancer signs on the walls at Disneyland.

Yes. As a CA resident, I have long said that they could have just put signs around the border of the state saying “There’s stuff in here that causes cancer.” and saved a ton of money. Of course the rejoinder is “No kidding Sherlock, living causes cancer.” Sigh...

The NYFD notice on consumer products went away a while back along with many NYC specific codes and regulations.