# Correction fluid requires safety glasses and rubber gloves
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 29, 2023, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985 "2023-01-29T13:06:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/1 "2023-01-29T13:06:41Z")
Yesterday I bought some correction fluid. I need to put small white dots on some objects, and figured this was cheaper than buying a container of paint and a tiny brush.
I’m talking about the office supply we used to call “Liquid Paper” or “Wite-Out”, a little bottle with a brush built into the cap we all used in the 1980s and 1990s, before it was replaced by those little white tape dispensers. This one is an off-brand from the dollar store.
Here are the safety warnings from the packaging:
> CONTENT MAY CATCH FIRE.
> FUMES MAY CATCH FIRE.
> CONTENTS HARMFUL.
> MAY IRRITATE EYES. MAY IRRITATE SKIN.
> DANGEROUS FUMES FORM WHEN MIXED WITH OTHER PRODUCTS.
> Do not mix with other chemicals.
> Do not smoke.
> Do not swallow.
> May cause blindness if swallowed.
> Do not breathe fumes.
> Do not get in eyes, on skin or clothing.
> Keep out of reach of children. Keep away from flames, such as a pilot light, and any object that sparks, such as an electric motor. Use only in a well-ventilated area. **Wear rubber gloves, safety glasses.**
… and then it goes on with first aid treatment.
I googled some of the phrases, and found that the Staples store brand has the exact same wording.
I know it’s from the regulators and the corporate lawyers, and of course it would be dangerous to swallow this or dab it in your eye. But still, _rubber gloves and safety glasses_?
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/2 "2023-01-29T13:12:01Z")
Does nail polish have the same warnings?
I can’t quite imagine being that dangerous and the warnings are clearly excessive. I don’t see how in any reasonable court system the warnings could hold up vs. expectations of product use.
If they’re legit warnings, the product should be off the market as too dangerous.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/3 "2023-01-29T13:15:07Z")
But I’m pretty sure the product contains substances known to the state of California to cause cancer.
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### Author:  [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/4 "2023-01-29T13:19:18Z")
So far as I can tell, dihydrogen monoxide has to have the Prop. 65 label, or as my husband calls it, “the label that cried wolf”. EVERYTHING is a deadly threat to humans, to hear the media tell it, especially here in California.
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### Author:  [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/5 "2023-01-29T13:33:05Z")
Heh. I remember buying some silver polish in the late 1980s - probably just after Prop 65 was passed and the routines weren’t quite established. The polish said something like, “known to cause cancer in the State of California.” To which I responded, “well then, I won’t visit California while using this product.”
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### Author:  [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/6 "2023-01-29T13:33:40Z")
> [@Heracles](#):
>
> I need to put small white dots on some objects, and figured this was cheaper than buying a container of paint and a tiny brush
[Paint Pen](https://www.michaels.com/sharpie-oil-based-paint-marker-extra-fine-point/M10288087.html?dwvar_M10288087_size=2%20oz&dwvar_M10288087_color=White)
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/7 "2023-01-29T13:40:59Z")
I have a (different brand) of that in gold colored paint, and I’ve had it for maybe 20 or 30 years, and it still works to label small devices, like calculators or phone chargers. I endorse that suggestion.
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### Author:  [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/8 "2023-01-29T13:41:12Z")
You picked a bad day to tell me I have to stop smoking White-Out.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/9 "2023-01-29T14:00:50Z")
I was building something at work last year, and I needed some thermal grease for mounting some solid state relays. So I purchased [this stuff](https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Littelfuse/P0200-20?qs=5aG0NVq1C4zX9zTUBCRdcw%3D%3D) from Mouser. After I used it, I put it on a shelf and forgot about it.
Last week a safety inspector came through our lab. She saw the grease and noticed it didn’t have an inventory sticker. She asked about it, and said we needed the SDS for it. I contacted Mouser. They said they didn’t have a SDS. I didn’t have time to mess with the problem, so I asked her, “Can you just dispose of it?” She said, “Not without a SDS.”
Somehow this “serious issue” was elevated within our organization, and management started asking me about it. I contacted Littelfuse. They didn’t have the SDS either. I was _finally_ able to get a SDS from the original manufacturer (small company in Delaware, Ohio) after making a number of phone calls.
Jesus, people, it’s just grease.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/10 "2023-01-29T14:02:38Z")
Hey, safety inspectors have to justify their existence. Take it as a positive she couldn’t find a real issue.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/11 "2023-01-29T15:13:09Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> Does nail polish have the same warnings?
>
> I can’t quite imagine being that dangerous and the warnings are clearly excessive. I don’t see how in any reasonable court system the warnings could hold up vs. expectations of product use.
>
> If they’re legit warnings, the product should be off the market as too dangerous.
I doubt it will instantly kill you, but there could be trichloroethane, various hydrocarbons, etc., in it. Why do you think those are not legit warnings to not sniff it, pour it in your eyes, or set it on fire?
> [@Heracles](#):
>
> Yesterday I bought some correction fluid. I need to put small white dots on some objects, and figured this was cheaper than buying a container of paint and a tiny brush.
You know, they do make acrylic markers, white gel pens, white drawing ink…
> [@Crafter\_Man](#):
>
> Jesus, people, it’s just grease.
I can only assume that, absent the official datasheet, you don’t _know_ it’s not plutonium grease.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/12 "2023-01-29T15:14:23Z")
> [@Heracles](#):
>
> Wear rubber gloves, safety glasses.
From the OP, see the bolded part. This is the silly part of the warning.
Not to mention the title of the OP itself.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/13 "2023-01-29T15:23:01Z")
The warnings may have to do with presumed legal protection against suits in connection with dumb teens huffing correction fluid. [It’s been a thing](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/03/15/Teenagers-die-after-sniffing-white-out/3873479710800/) since at least the mid-'80s.
[https://u.osu.edu/buckmdblog/2011/02/16/youll-huff-and-youll-dust-and-youll-sniff-your-brain-down/](https://u.osu.edu/buckmdblog/2011/02/16/youll-huff-and-youll-dust-and-youll-sniff-your-brain-down/)
Supposedly they’ve changed the formulation of white-out in recent years to be less environmnentally dangerous and hazardous to humans.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/14 "2023-01-29T15:27:56Z")
> [@DPRK](#):
>
> I can only assume that, absent the official datasheet, you don’t _know_ it’s not plutonium grease.
So true. 😆
I get it that she has a job to do. But IMO her response to the situation was disproportionate to the risk at hand. She was in a near state of panic for hours. She said the label on the container said it was “toxic.” So I looked at the label. It said it was “toxic to aquatic life.”
Management was discussing it in the hallway. It became a Big Deal™. Emails were flying back and forth. I had to drop everything I was doing and make it my priority _ **right now** _.
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/15 "2023-01-29T16:07:47Z")
Somewhere in the voluminous rules of the Straight Dope is a requirement that when anyone mentions Wite-Out or Liquid Paper, another Doper must remind the rest of us that the [inventor of Liquid Paper](https://www.thoughtco.com/liquid-paper-bette-nesmith-graham-1992092) was the mother of Michael Nesmith of the Monkees.
You’re welcome.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/16 "2023-01-29T16:11:54Z")
Much like Major League Baseball, many of the long standing SDMB rules are unwritten rules.
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/17 "2023-01-29T16:23:43Z")
Am I the only one who, whenever they pulled out the bottle of white out, took a sniff from the bottle without even thinking about it?
I was so bummed when everyone changed over to corrective tape. And then they took away my lawn darts and made the hot metal slides out of plastic.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/18 "2023-01-29T19:21:05Z")
> [@commasense](#):
>
> the [inventor of Liquid Paper](https://www.thoughtco.com/liquid-paper-bette-nesmith-graham-1992092) was the mother of Michael Nesmith of the Monkees.
I read this entire thread specifically to find mention of Mrs Nesmith. Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/19 "2023-01-29T19:26:49Z")
> [@Seanette](#):
>
> EVERYTHING is a deadly threat to humans, to hear the media tell it, especially here in California.
Continuing to live is known to the State of California to increase your risk of cancer. There should be a pop-up message on your phone each morning warning you.
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/correction-fluid-requires-safety-glasses-and-rubber-gloves/978985/20 "2023-01-29T19:31:24Z")
> [@Seanette](#):
>
> EVERYTHING is a deadly threat to humans, to hear the media tell it, especially here in California.
I don’t know why you’re blaming the media. It’s the law, the badly written and nonsensical law, that makes that stipulation. Is there a survey anywhere about the media’s attitude (if there is one) about this law?
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