Danger Of Lead Poisoning In Emu Products???!!!!!!

Hypomixolydian · Post by **Hypomixolydian** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:06 am

Hello,

I finally decided to buy a cheap usb soundcard and got the Emu 0202. The specs seem nice etc..

However, here is something worrying I read in the literature included with the package. It says:

WARNING: Handling the cord(s) on this product may expose you to lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. WASH HANDS AFTER HANDLING.

Fuck me!!! I have little kids here and I don't want them to be exposed to potential hazards like lead poisoning.
First of all which cords do they mean? The USB cable that came with the unit? Or is it any cable that is plugged in and then out which may get into contact with lead while plugged into the unit?

Maybe some of you might think I am being alarmist or paranoid, but as I said, I have little kids here. Does anyone know exactly what that warning refers to?

Thanks

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:12 am

Dude, that's like, just how California is, ya know??

v00d00ppl · Post by **v00d00ppl** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:13 am

its not the cord, its the box inbetween the cord. its like a temporary battery power supply type of concoction, that is why it weighs so much.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:21 am

That chunk of plastic that feels like there's metal in it? That's a chunk of iron or semi-magnetic material to help choke out current surges. As a current spike hits it, the change in current causes the iron to become an electromaget, the magentic field opposes the current, chilling it out.

There's lead in the solder and other parts, to get a better idea of how much lead is in electronics, check out RoHS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROHS

It's nothing to worry about, just don't serve food to your kids everyday off the circuit board.

Hypomixolydian · Post by **Hypomixolydian** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:36 am

Hello again,

Thanks Tone Deft for your response, I hope you are right. You are sure then that it refers to the lead in the solder? If so does that mean there is a danger of lead coming loose, particularly when plugging and unplugging cables? And does that then apply to all electronic products? I know I must come across as paranoid and maybe overly concerned, but as I said, I have little kids here and reading that warning in the literature made my instinctive, parental, protective impulses to kick in.

I have a feeling that I will get a few mocking replies to my thread, but I don't mind as long as they are funny.

D K · Post by **D K** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 12:44 am

i heard it cures a particular type of skin cancer

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:03 am

All that stuff is disolved into other materials. It's completely safe as long as you don't ingest all the parts, and wait 20 years. A story I heard was that this old electrical engineer got real sick, they couldn't figure out how he got whatever it was. Turned out that his WHOLE career (decades) we would ALWAYS chew on electrical wire insulation (sans wire), as a nervous/thinking habit. The lead from the wire left in the insulation made him sick. After decades of daily ingestion.

Again, read the wiki entry on RoHS, also WEE, lead free initiative.

You'll start to see 'wheelie bins' <trash cans> on products, that's from the new WEE initiative (Waste Electrical Electroncs something or other). That governs how that product will be thrown away. Last I heard they were thinking of a recycling program that involved credits for the manufacturer that were traced to the dump, and how much was recycled. Something like that, it was a few years ago that I attented a lecture on it. ROHS is another marker, as is PbF (lead free) which means it more or less adheres to RoHS standards.

Pandamonium · Post by **Pandamonium** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:06 am

A guy came into the music shop I work in with a M-Audio Black Box he purchased (here in Australia) it had the same wnarning on the manual and he was concerned. I advised him never to get pregnant in California.

TerryR · Post by **TerryR** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:44 am

I bought a fishing reel that had the same warning. I think it was because the gears are made of brass which contains lead. I'm not likely to start chewing on the gears of a fishing reel.

Hypomixolydian · Post by **Hypomixolydian** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:47 pm

Thank you for the responses so far. But isn't there an implication that there is a risk in say touching leads plugged into my unit (even any unit). So if I unplug a cable out of the Emu soundcard there is a chance it may have traces of lead in it? I am not just concerned about my kids but also ME. I handle cables all the time, cook meals, hold my kids etc...

I am getting paranoid again!!!!

Most people have been saying that is nothing to worry about. I REALLY hope it is true!!! Or is it just like being a miner in the old days, where I can imagine that some poor miner is suffering from black lung and his miner mates are saying don't be a wimp it's nothing.

Imagine strong Yorkshire accent:

"I've worked down pit all my life. Me coughing guts out and dying premature age won't stop me. My father worked down pit, my grandfather worked down pit, my great grandfather and so on. They may have only lived to be 40 yeas old, but that and a bit of black lung won't stop me.
Let's go eat a chip buttie and go down pub"

Excuse my terrible cliches, but I hope you get my drift.

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 7:42 pm

Whatever it is, it is probably the same with all your electronic stuff. The warning is on your latest equipment, probably due to some new legislation. But I can't imagine that EMU cards are more toxic than M-Audio ones.

particle · Post by **particle** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:50 am

my UC-33 came with that warning also..it made me a little bit sketched out at first becasue the casing that its in looks kinda leady but i cant imagine why someone what make a midi controller's casing out of lead..its gotta be the solder unless the government has some elaborate plan to kill off the electronic music. bic lighters sketch me out for that reason..if you hold the flame under a piece of metal, it leaves all this nasty black soot and when you flick it, all these sparks of flint go everywhere, so basicly when you smoke a bowl, you are inhaling really contaminated butane and flint particles...if you hold one of those jet flames under some metal, it does nothing, and everyone has a bic lighter..they are like the most easyest to get...zigzags sketch me out too becasue they are really thick and you can tell there are all kinds of chemicals added in to them and they are the most readily available paper out there..i heard that they have trace amounts of asbestos also