This is a great example of good intention and awful execution.
Getting that label on a child’s toy should provide a parent with useful information. What’s the harmful chemical and where on the product is it located? Is it acid in the battery? Is it the grease between some moving parts that can end up in a kids mouth? Is it the paint on a high-wear surface?
Instead, we have labels that are on half of everything sold in stores with no easy way to find out what exactly manufacturers are referring to. It’s worthless.
When I first learned about this, I couldn’t believe the amount of stupidity that fits into people.
Basically, California has stricter rules regarding the toxicity of products and requires manufacturers to warn about them. But only Californians. So instead of simply writing “This product may contain harmful chemicals”, they explicitly say “To residents in California: This product may contain harmful chemicals”. How is this any better?
It's usually not "To residents in California" but "...contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause..." So they're just referencing the list California keeps. Which may be different than anyone else's list.
