DANGERS AND UNBELIEVABLE USES FOR WD40

Is it affecting your pet?

by N.B. Liquorman

Nel Liquorman, Health Editor / TheDogPress © August 2007 - After receiving a long and alarming list of uses for WD40 via email, I have got to wonder, is this practice widespread?  Recalling how DDT was once believed to be safe, I feel that maybe everyone needs to be reminded that the label may be the most valuable part of the product.

The email was a rambling list (from many product users) believed to be non-toxic ways to cleanup all of our everyday messes with ease.  The product mentioned was WD40.  Here are a few reasons why this is a terrible idea:

MOST IMPORTANT is the information contained in the label on the can of aerosol WD40.  There are DANGER warnings on both the front and back of the can.   Extremely flammable (propane).   I do not know if this means that it contains propane or reacts like propane when ignited.  It is harmful or FATAL if swallowed, it contains petroleum distillates.  There are also a lot of other related warnings.

The warnings are there because laws forced the chemical company to put them on the labels.  Warnings are not there because the chemical company loves you!   The chemical company is protected from lawsuits by putting warning labels on the product.  If the consumer fails to read the label and something goes wrong, it is the consumer who loses.  I am sure that they would be perfectly happy for you to use their product for everything that you can possibly find to use it on, since this means more profits from sales.

However, the list of uses being circulated is not from the company, so the company is not responsible if the product is used for something not intended.  All the uses on the list were uses consumers have found for the product.  One suggestion was to give floors a just waxed look without the slippery effect.  Dogs and cats can pick this product up on their paws.  They lick their paws.  It is harmful or fatal if ingested!!  It says this on the label!  It is also flammable.  Your floor could be ignited – and maybe the dog or cat!!

Another use on the list is to clean your stove.  If you should happen to use it on a gas stove with a pilot light on – guess what!  When you blow up your house, it will be your fault and not the fault of the chemical company.  Even if you are too busy or poor sighted to read the label, you are still responsible.

Flammable vapors will ignite.  A lady in Tampa, Florida found this out a few months ago when she decided to solve her bug problems by setting off a few bug bombs in her house.  Her gas stove’s pilot light supplied her with the fire power that she needed to blow out every window in the house and shake most of the neighborhood.  When the firemen arrived, they found her dazed in the yard.  Near the same time, a woman in Oregon pulled the same caper and blew her roof off.  They are both lucky to be alive!

Some other suggestions were to use WD40 to keep flies off the cows, take the sting out of bug bites and to stop arthritis pain.  Life forms absorb chemicals through the skin – toxins end up in the liver.  While there are claims on the internet that this is non-toxic – remember it is a petroleum product!

The warnings, on the WD40 aerosol can, clearly state that it must be used in a ventilated area, and that breathing or inhaling the fumes directly could be harmful or fatal.  If anyone is using this product frequently in the home for cleaning, preventing fog on mirrors and cleaning shower doors, they may be inhaling dangerous amounts of fumes.  Chances are they may have unexplained health problems at some future date, and maybe no one will be able to diagnose it.  Remember what the returning soldiers went through with Gulf War Syndrome.  Since all pets, children, and adults in the home are breathing the same fumes, all may be affected.

If you don’t currently read labels, now will be a good time to start.  It may save the life of your pet or even your own.

And, if you are not freaked out by what you have read so far, here is something really scary.  There is a message on the label that WD40 is approved by the USDA for food processing facilities.  So, even though it is harmful or fatal if swallowed, it okay if a food processor uses it!    Your own government says so. Unbelievable!

http://www.thedogpress.com/Columns/Liquorman/0708-WD40-Usage-Danger-V1.asp

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