It occured to me that although there are usually warnings about ingestion and getting products into your eyes I have not seen other warnings on many detailing products. Not knowing what the ingredients are made me wonder if there are potential health safety concerns about using them - for instance if you are pregnant, or have asthma, etc.

Are there aspects to be concerned about and should there be more cautions about using any products more clearly and specifically stated on the packaging?

 

does this mean you are pregnant? (congrats if so!)

i heard Epic tastes great on smoked salmon so im sure it's
fine. jk jk don't do that!

I would not recommend high exposure to any substance so
i would use it on a "well ventilated" area... but that is hard to
do when you are trying not to stir up the air. i use most
products inside my garage with the door closed. im still alive
and healthy. but im pretty strong to paints, etc. so
might just be me.

 

Thanks but no - however, you don't know about pregnancy at the beginning and so I think it is something to take into account whether or not you know you are..

I'm not trying to be an alarmist or anything, but what with unknown chemicals and reactions and how they accumulate in your body all being kind of mystery I began to think about all the products. Aside from potentially aggravating conditions or being bad for a pregnancy I just began to wonder about what these chemicals are and if there are potential issues with exposing yourself to a cocktail of them over time; I've witnessed people I care about with various health issues and they haved used all kinds of stuff and been exposed to petrochmicals over their lives and it is just food for thought since I don't know if anyone really knows the cause and effect of how mixtures of chemicals effect people over time.

Circumstances have caused it to be on my mind and when I picked up some products and looked around I realized that there really was not much info for me, and the warnings didn't necessarily cover things that seem like they should be considered (like pregnancy, asthma, chemical reactions, etc). At least a full list of ingredients could help?

 

Where's ImagoX ? He can tell us if the Monster Fluffies are safe for bare bottoms (and any other part of the anatomy... use your ImagoNation).

 

i think part of the non-disclosure is due to the chemical being proprietary
information. but perhaps if there are any known hazardous chemicals used,
it might best to be labeled..

but it does show warnings to contact poison control and not to induce
vomiting.

"911, may i help you?"
"I ate best of show"
"you wat?
"I ate best of show"
"why did you do that? Slick tastes much better."

 

Yeah, considering that people should be able to know what they are inhaling and getting on their skin the detailing products could list all of the ingredients without stating the specific quantities or the recipe, per se, like cosmetics do.

 

yah, next thing you know Prima's going to release a next gen
version of Epic where it has skin nurishing and wrinkle-free
moisturizers.

oh wait, is that what Octaneguy's working on with this octane
stuff and these new products?

where is my tonkatsu sauce?!

 

How about a Zymol-esque formula [for the new Epic] that can be applied by the hands? Would it need some carnuaba then?

Oh but scrap the Zymol prices and keep the Epic price (or lower it.)

 

Cosmetics are different. For the most part, they are considered harmless unless they have an active ingredient which then classifies them as a drug--which then is regulated by the FDA. Who would have thought that Sunscreen is a drug?? But it is.

That's why for the past decade herbal solutions have been so popular. Find an herb that claims to do the work of a drug, incorporate it into a topical product, and don't make any drug claims--that it cures or affects the structure of the skin and you're fine. Heck there was even a classification for organic products being defined as anything being composed from a certain percentage of organic compounds. Water is organic, which made practically everything organic, so then some smart person came up with a way to relabel water to make Organic Water after the rules were changed to say that the definition of organic doesn't include water.

Car products aren't meant to be slathered on the human body or consumed--in fact many products will say to avoid prolonged contact with the skin.

Cosmetic ingredient listings are the best way for anyone to copy a product. A good chemist doesn't need weights. He just needs to know what's inside. When most cosmetics are 80 or 90% water, that doesn't leave that much to the imagination. I think car care manufacturers are elated they don't have to abide by the same rules of the cosmetic industry! Of course California laws and VOC compliancy etc..means that even without ingredient listings, that compliant products are still required to meet certain safety requirements.

Your best bet is to buy from trusted manufacturers that you can talk to and are open to your concerns.

I gotta run for now.

Richard

 

herbal products like the extract from chrysanthimum's or however you spell that flower. it is used to kill mosquito larvae. It makes people happy because it is not a "chemical" However, it is 1000's of times more concentrated than nature intended it and is lethal to humans and could cause birth defects.

GI JOOOOOOEEE!!!

Note that uranium and lead are natural products. So is chlorine gas.

That being said, I believe on the basis of logic that interior vinyl detail sprays are very bad to breath in and get into mucous membranes. they are plasticizers of variouis types. another plasticizer is mustard gas.

A REAL AMERICAN HERO !!!

Plexus also irritates my lungs. griot's paste wax when it cures burns my eyes.

FIGHTING THE EVIL COBRA!!!

GI JOOOOOEEEE!!

 

Two drops of Epic to a Martini will add a nice polish to the finish. No ill effects as of this time.

 

I know the subject could turned into something silly, but I am serious in considering it; I want to know if there are active or inert ingredients that could cause birth defects, are carcinogenic, etc, or have any VOCs that can interact with other things, or be harmful in any way. Yes, I use them "as directed" but that actually often has little info and with regards to the product warnings, as I said, it often only mentions injestion or getting in your eyes, and since these things emit fumes (even when the container is closed evidently) and often come in contact with your skin it simply occured to me that infomation was lacking.

I don't think it unreasonable to wish to make an informed decision on using products and wanting to knowing what chemicals and other ingredients it might contain.


OG, thanks for posting, any additional feedback or places to find out more info would be appreciated.

 

It's a valid concern. MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) are usually offered up by companies about their car care products. Meguiar's has them for a lot of their products. They contain "active ingredients"--as well as instructions on what to do if ingested, etc..

I'm not certain if by law every product needs to have an MSDS or not. From what I understand, Meguiar's used to make them freely available on their website until people (enthusiasts who didn't use Meguiar's products) started taking advantage of the ingredient listings and publicly dissecting them and arguing about it such that it created so much controversy, that the sheets were pulled down and are now available on request.

I would think that if any car care products contained any known carcinogens, they would be declared in some form otherwise they would be liable under Prop 65 and be open to very expensive class action lawsuits.

But then think about the products you use. Polymers occur in the human body. I mean, carnuba wax could be considered "natural" as well, but most of the time, additives are needed for certain desirable properties, such as making the product easy to spread or coat, etc..

Richard

 

i think the pizza's and chips we eat are far more dangerous than
a sniff of detailing spray.

i think we using octaneguy as a field test vehicle is far more accurate
than any label. jk

 

Well, I have to admit that when I was pregnant, I avoided just about everything. I didn't even use the wax I was using at the time. The Meguiars NXT. I didn't use household cleaners either - my husband did. So I have to say that yeah, if I were pregnant again, I would probably put the detailing on hold. I did use the gold class soap though. I thought that wouldn't be too harmful.

 

You girls, jeeze any excuse not to clean. But really don't you think getting PG is a little over-the-top. I mean really if you don't want to clean the toilet just say so, kenchan can do it for you.

 

^^ i dont do dirty crappers.

my toilets are always clean... best to clean while it's still clean.

 

Well that's a good point. When you're pregnant, anything could be a potential hazard, like that one night of partying you did before you found out that you were pregnant, lol. Most car wash soaps, esp. Gold Class, is formulated just like the shampoo we use on our hair. Not that I recommend you use Head and Shoulders on your MINI--please don't do that!! You got mostly water and surfactants (detergents). If you use any of the other consumer car washes from Meguiar's, the only difference is how concentrated they are---the cheaper you go, the more water there is, the less lubricity and protection there is. My point is simply that yeah, washing the brake dust off your car or touching it is likely to be more hazardous to your health than using a car soap.

 

I know this might sound silly but here it goes;

When in doubt, don't use it or do it.

 

see, field tested by the octaneguy.

 

Yeah, but when was the last time that OG was PG?

 

OG is right, all products sold must have MSDSs available for anyone who asks. Ask your supplier for the MSDS for any product you use. It will contain all sorts of info. In your case pay attention to the health effects sections.

There is a loop hole that manufacturers' can use to protect special forumlas so they don't have to list all their ingredients.

Anyone wanting to copy a product can have it analyzed by a lab and figure it out pretty easily anyway.

I'm sure Heather can supply you with MSDSs for everything they sell.

YD

 

Thanks for the info, I guess I will contact some places for the MSDSs. I did a little look online yesterday and without knowing the ingredients it is impossible to know the hazards or best way to handle stuff - however it is clear that there can be ingredients that really are unhealthy and, apparently, the 'inert' ones can even be worse then the 'active' ingredients of products.

I guess I'm just surprised that well defined directions for proper use and handling, storage/fumes issues, warnings for health reasons and potential chemical reactions with other things, and instructions for proper disposal of these possibly toxic products is frequently lacking and complete information disclosure is not apparently not made clear for people or necessarily easy to come by.

 

I will give you a hint from how I see things. stay away from anything that changes plastics or vinyl. Anything that can loosen a bond and then reharden it can do the same to biological tissue. I also would not ever ever spray in a car with a closed window anything. You know, I also would use latex or if allergic those polymer whatever gloves if you are waxing your car. Curing agents in carnauba waxes = ehh... I dont like them. I dont think they are carcinogenic but hardly anyone knows what that means. Irritants and toxicity are the lesser side of carcinogens, but can build up and cause boundless unknown reactions in people.

Mutagenic is like carcinogenic but moreso on things that are growing rapidly like children. Stay away from gasoline, never pump it yourself and roll the windows up in the car when gas is being pumped.

I do believe that a pregrant woman should not be around chemicals that can cure, or ones that have petroleum distillates or ones that change plastics. Not much else besides washing the car with car soap. I dont even know if quick detailers are a great idea. sad isnt it.

 

I wonder how we survived at all.