Flashlight with toxic "rubber" switch cover?

[batvette]

That's true. Loved ones matter the most. Only the best for my loved ones will do.

well life's just riddled with decisions we face that are all about calculated risk.... in this case we weigh how many "toxic" flashlights we can purchase for "X" amount of dollars vs. non "toxic" ones, divided by how many loved ones we have who have put flashlights low on their priority list of survival items.

Is Uncle Bob at more risk with our smelly clicky in his pocket than he is breaking down on a dark road and having to flag down the first car with a hockey mask garbed driver to borrow a light? Only you, Bob, and Jason know the answer. You make the call.

I'd estimate when Bob grabs the oily plug boot to check for spark he's got more carcinogens on his finger than a truckload of Kai's switch covers, so....

 

[SEMIJim]

... outgassing from plasticizers used in plastics (particularly when heated in microwaves or boiled with food in them), mercury and other heavy metals ingested from certain fish, formaldehype indoors from the manufacture of particle and press board, toluene from foam cushions, and the list goes on.

Outgassing from newly-finished furniture and cabintry.

When I bought my house, one of the pre-conditions was a water test. (It has its own well.) When the test results came back, toluene at the minimum detection level was detected! (The County Health Dept. went kind of ballistic.) To make a long story short: It turned out to have gotten into the sample vial while I had it sitting open on the kitchen counter. The kitchen had all new cabinets and the house had been vacant, thus all closed up with little air exchange. (I verified via the manufacturer of the cabinets the presence of toluene in their products.) A subsequent re-test, with water taken from an outside faucet, using a procedure that went down to much lower detection levels, showed no toluene in the water.

Lesson learned: Keep any area in which you place newly-finished furniture or cabinetry well-ventilated for a long time.

 

[Spalding]

You'd better get rid of the flashlight before you become sick with worry. It could harm you. Then go but a helmet, put on your sunscreen, and be certain to hydrate because if you don't something really bad will happen to you.

 

[nein166]

Just get a condom to cover the switch end. They come in all different colors. Always use protection :laughing:

 

[HarveyRich]

Originally Posted by Nein166: Just get a condom to cover the switch end.

Yeah, but the condom is likely made of some plastic or rubber and has the same problem!

 

[abvidledUK]

I got all mine from Dealextreme, and well before any toxic suggestion.

I originally purchased 12, not a problem with a single one of them.

They are not toxic, don't smell toxic, and are from another batch / supplier, as stated by postee..

I think you will find any mention of toxicity is for the ones not supplied by either KD or DX.

You may note, that the postee stated...
"Recently I received two ELLY flashlights which I hadn't ordered from one of the two suppliers common to CPF. I had ordered jetlighters!
When I opened the bubblewrapped lights I noticed a strong hydrocarbon type smell from the "rubber" switch covers. Reminded me of how old generator oil smells."

I think he was referring to manufacturing process, mine didn't smell of anything but the faint smell of rubber, these switch covers are rubber !

Possibly oil used as lubricant in the turning of the threads, note that the torches were hermetically sealed in bubble wrap.

Don't let another's possible perceived problem affect your own judgement.

I think you will find later on in this thread in fact it is not a problem at all.

If you believe in the toxicity theory, debunked later in the thread, then you are denying yourself a great torch.

 

[abvidledUK]

I just said all that !!!

Double post...

 

[electrothump]

I've also noticed the creosote type smell from most of the China rubber. If you go into a harbor freight, and smell nearly anything that has black rubber on it, it will smell the same. It was only a few years back when rubber products coming from India had the same smell. I'm not really sure what makes the smell. But, if it smells like that you can be assured it is cheap rubber, and not nearly as durable as more refined rubber.

DN

 

[frasera]

Unless you stick the clickie up your nostril and leave it there all day, you probably don't have much to worry about regarding toxicity. Here are a few other more likely toxic worries, if one would like to have high blood pressure from anxiety: benzene from car fumes and standing next to gas pumps, outgassing from plasticizers used in plastics (particularly when heated in microwaves or boiled with food in them), mercury and other heavy metals ingested from certain fish, formaldehype indoors from the manufacture of particle and press board, toluene from foam cushions, and the list goes on.

well i remember reading some plastics have lead in the plasticizer, most good companies avoid that now. but china...you never know. as for contact toxicity, it depends on the hand to mouth thing, kids are more likely to be harmed. still even so i wouldn't want to spend time with something like that even for 9.99. i remember some post in the 9.99 thread where a guy posted about giving these things to his kids, i hope he takes them away until we can get confirmation it is safe.

if a company is dealing with walmart they are more likely to be legit on this stuff. lawsuit exposure and all that. small no name companies with little to no lawsuit exposure ..hard to trust.

keeping it in a baggie in your trunk for emergencies is possible i guess. but then again i'd want to pack away something more reliable for such a purpose.

 

[StefanFS]

abvidledUK,
I don't generally imagine things. The lights I got are the $5 kind from DX. I have one left hanging in the attic, it still stinks from the switch cover. That smell has also been on a variety of cheap generic power tools sold by two big Swedish hardware chains in Sweden, Norway and Finland. When tested they contained levels of phatalates, softeners and even dioxine a few thousand times over the approved levels. I believe that handling such materials will damage your health eventually.

 

[GrnXnham]

Uhm, I REALLY think this has blown out of proportion. Actually generating enough uproar on CPF to force Kai to make a disclaimer? If you're worrying about getting cancer or dying a slow horrible death cause of your "toxic" switch on your flashlight, then you probably have WAY too little stuff to worry about in your everyday life...

+1

 

[axolotls]

smells like a basketball (serious)

 

[StefanFS]

There seems to be a lot of people ascribing motives to this thread, I have a hard time finding these motives. "Uproar on CPF"? I never had any intent on creating any uproar. Please read the first post carefully, and especially post # four. It's not only the eff*ng Elly switches, it's a problem with many low cost products containing plastic and rubber with PAH and other compounds. Maybe Kai are aware of the fact that many products do contain toxic compounds, especially those who have a certain smell.
This is not a subject to be "worried about", but people should be aware of the fact that long term exposure to many objects/products with such compounds and agents could have physical effects. The effects are well known.

http://www.lga.de/tuv/en/news/news_pah_050801.shtml

http://www.tdctrade.com/imn/05101002/design006.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/125019.stm

http://mobil.svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=45952&a=607125&lid=aldreNyheter_613055&lpos=rubrik_607125

 

[Handlobraesing]

if it does indeed turn out to contain chemicals banned in US for consumer products, you should contact CPSC. Hopefully, they will the suppliers sending dangerous goods to be added to ban list at customs.

 

[StefanFS]

I'm so tired of this thread and I regret the day I made the stupid decision to start it!
This is my final post in it.

This concerns MY Elly, I don't know about yours. They may be from another batch or factory, or whatever. But I do understand now that MY Elly has a significant amount of PAH (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in its rubber switch cover. There is at least a fair chance that the particular PAH in mine is "not so good". After all it's the same goo that are in tires, and that is being seen an environmental threat. PAH's cause all sorts of problems. Some of them are extremely toxic.

When exposed to ultraviolet light these compounds fluoresce in different wavelenghts.

Searchword PAH for Wikipedia.
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"PAHs possess very characteristic UV absorbance spectra. These often possess many absorbance bands and are unique for each ring structure. Thus, for a set of isomers, each isomer has a different UV absorbance spectrum than the others. This is particularly useful in the identification of PAHs. Most PAHs are also fluorescent, emitting characteristic wavelengths of light when they are excited (when the molecules absorb light). The extended pi-electron electronic structures of PAHs lead to these spectra, as well as to certain large PAHs also exhibiting semi-conducting and other behaviors."


This is my Elly beside one of my Litefluxes. I'd dare say that the rubber boot on the Elly does tend to fluoresce a bit. I use a compact UV lightsource to do this.

This is my left index finger after I rubbed it on the switch cover for a few seconds. The compound have transferred to my skin, which fluoresce somewhat. It will enter my bloodstream through the skin.

And NO, I'm not worried by this.
But I do see it as apart of a bigger problem.

Stefan

 

[abvidledUK]

This is my Elly beside one of my Litefluxes. I'd dare say that the rubber boot on the Elly does tend to fluoresce a bit. I use a compact UV lightsource to do this.[/size][/font]
This is my left index finger after I rubbed it on the switch cover for a few seconds. The compound have transferred to my skin, which fluoresce somewhat. It will enter my bloodstream through the skin.

Stefan

I've just tried this with FOUR of my DX Elly's and UV light, not a trace of flourescence !!!

Nor will it rub off onto my finger.

I don't get any wierd smells either !

Never had had...

You say you didn't get yours from DX or KD, well I suspect your supplier is at fault, somewhere !!

I think a little bit of unjustified paranoia has crept into this thread, somewhat.

BTW, the GID O-rings I have glow like sunlight under the UV..

 

[ken2400]

Been there, smelled that.

Give it a week to air out and get back to us.

 

[CodeOfLight]

According to some very reliable medical journals I read, people who worry about cancer causing chemicals (or woryy ingeneral) are more likely to contract a host of diseases as they age. Worry itself, as a personality trait, casues more damage than the things that worriers are worried about. In other words, going around all the time worried about cancer causing chemicals, can give you cancer.

 

[frasera]

theres pathological worry, and theres reasonable caution. quite different things. if it were the worry you talk about every thread on a new flashlight would be filled with such questions, but they aren't. you really have no idea what chinese companies get away with in china do you? there are countless poor people who suffer the effects of toxic chemicals there with no real recourse against such companies.

 

[GarageBoy]

Ahh, the beloved PCB smell