Does G10 Material in Pocket Knives Pose a Cancer Risk?

[yungman]

I have been looking at pocket knives, seems like all the ones with G10 handle scales have a warning about cancer. This is a very typical pocket knife.

https://www.chicagoknifeworks.com/steel-will-cutjack-c22m-linerlock-od/

You see the cancer warning message?

The rest of the knife is all steel, bronze, they cannot be causing cancer, only the G10 scale I can think of that can cause cancer.

Is this exaggerated?

If you put in pocket with no skin contact, does that help preventing the problem?

Thanks

 

[Frabjous]

I believe it is an inhalation hazard.

 

[yungman]

I believe it is an inhalation hazard.

I am still looking, this is what I saw on Google:

"In fact, there are hundreds of chemicals on the California Prop 65 list—including things like nickel and chromium that have always been a part of knife steel. As a responsible manufacturer, we are including the warning as required by the law."

 

[rbelli1]

The Prop 65 notice is an almost completely meaningless warning.

More evidence here

BoB

 

[yungman]

The Prop 65 notice is an almost completely meaningless warning.

More evidence here

BoB

I guess the sure way to be safe is don't breath, don't touch.

 

[Frabjous]

Humans are made of chemicals and government policies cause cancer, yet incumbent politicians are not labeled as cancer causing.

 

[jrmichler]

If you take most any solid material and grind it into small enough particles, it causes cancer. Search terms fine dust causes cancer readily found this from the American Lung Association at: https://www.lung.org/clean-air/outd...threshold,respiratory disease and lung cancer. A quote from that link:
There is no safe threshold to breathe in fine particles. A recent review of all available scientific evidence to date clearly shows that particle pollution is associated with increased mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and lung cancer.

Another hit is from the National Institutes for Health at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7546438/ has the following quote:
Exposure to PM2.5 air pollution contributes to lung cancer incidence and is potentially associated with non-lung cancer incidence.

Further searching adding wood dust to the search terms finds studies that deal with the confounding factor of cigarette smoking. The cancer causing effect of smoking is far greater than the cancer causing effect of fine dusts. This makes it difficult to isolate the possible hazards of most materials from the known hazards of smoking, especially when the effect of second hand smoke is included.

More searching using search terms fine dust smoking cancer finds this link (and others): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25395026/. A quote: reductions in cigarette smoking will achieve the greatest impact on lung cancer rates

Is this exaggerated?

Yes, even if you grind up the entire knife into submicron size particles and blast those particles into the air. On the other hand, if you are a smoker or even breathe second hand smoke, you are definitely endangering yourself.

 

[berkeman]

Thread paused for Moderation...

 

[berkeman]

With the excellent post by JR, this is probably a good time to tie off this thread. Thanks folks.