I am surprised to read all the anti-safety, anti-California rhetoric here. CA has a long history of environmental protections that have later been implemented nationally. When was the last time you could purchase leaded gasoline? Lead in gasoline directly resulted in lead in air and soil. In 1976 CA began limiting lead in automotive gasoline and the country followed suit with a total ban effective in '95.
Catalytic converters were first required in CA. Smog controls on factories were first introduced in CA. I could go on.
Another thing: the state of California hasn't determined what does and doesn't cause cancer and reproductive harm. Scientific research has proven the damage lead and other heavy metals cause. California has acted upon scientific fact in requiring this labeling.
Lead and other heavy metals cause brain damage and reproductive harm. This is inarguable. The original poster's wife trying to limit further exposure for herself and her family to lead is not unreasonable.
My lawn mower has a sticker on it that says its not for sale in Calfornia but Ill bet ten dollars it still does the same job as the same model that they do sell in Cali.
Yes, clearly, two lawnmowers do the same job just as well no matter whether they are legal for sale in CA or not. Small two stroke engines are incredibly polluting compared to automotive engines though and there's no reason for them to remain so. CA law requires that all small gasoline fueled equipment must be equipped with catalytic converters and leak proof fuel components. We will definitely see this be mandated nationally at some point. Your lawn mower does the same job but at a greater environmental cost. You paid a small amount less (40 bucks or so) than it would have cost had it been CA-emissions equipped. Is 40 bucks too much to pay for clean air?
If SWMBO is really that concerened youll need to go through the whole house and replace those fittings too........
It's true that people can get overly uptight about these things. Replacing all of the plumbing in one's house just isn't economically feasible for most of us. What is feasible is to require that all new construction be completed with lead free parts (which is what the CA law accomplishes). For those of us living in older houses there are two easy rules to limit one's exposure to lead from one's plumbing. These are: 1) Don't cook with or drink from your home's hot water supply; and, 2) If water has sat static in the pipes for some time (measured in days or weeks) then allow it to run for a while before drinking/cooking with it in order to flush out all that water that's been soaking up whatever is in your pipes.
As far as I have looked there is no correlation between geographic location and lead poisoning. Leaded gas is bad for you no matter where you are. Lead in your environment is bad for you whether you're in Oklahoma, California, Arizona, or anywhere else for that matter.
It is a simple thing for the original poster to purchase parts that will allay his wife's concerns. Environmental protection is about protecting people; why is there such vitriol towards it here?
