gammerus

on the back of my bottle of melafix it says

"this product contains a chemical known to the state of california to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm"

holy **** is that if you drink it or touch it?
I'm 19 and I do eventually want to have kids and not get cancer.

chickadee

Just follow good rules of common sense and do not have your hands in the water more than you need to and wash immediately after any contact with the medication or water containing the medication. You will not have to worry if you just use good hygiene. I do not believe I need to worry about you drinking it now do I? I believe you mentioned the distaste for the smell....hm?

Rose

LilaBean

i wondered the same thing becasue "melaluca" is natural tea tree oil. and it doesn't list any other ingridients on the bottle. still curious as to what it is that causes such harm-- but i agree, i try not to touch it unless it touches me accidentally-- and i wash my hands compulsively after i did anything to my tank and the water!! LILA i think it's the malachite green that is really harmful-- correct me if i'm wrong--

Isabella

I've also heard that many fish medications contain carcinogenic substances (i.e. cancer-causing chemicals). It is scary, isn't it? I wouldn't want to put my hands in a water treated with a medication containing carcinogenic substances. Maybe use rubber gloves? And if not, DO wash your hands thoroughly in soap and warm water after you're done.

Any idea how long the contact with the medication has to be in order to put a woman at risk? Or how many times does a person have to come in contact with a medication?

chickadee

I do personally wear vinyl gloves (I am allergic to latex or I would use them they are much cheaper) as much as I can but sometimes they just are not long enough. It is better to wear no gloves than to wear them and have the water get inside of them. After many years in nursing, we learned that there is no substitute for thorough hand washing and plenty of it. I also use the hand sanitizers afterwards. It may be a bit of overkill but better safe than sorry especially when you are working with multiple tanks. It is so easy any time you are working with even the "safest" of chemicals to develop a sensitivity to them that may or may not have serious consequences. The fish may even need to have these things in their water to get along (meds, dechlor, etc.) but they are foreign substances to humans and just because there is no bad effects the first time you come in contact with something does not mean that there cannot be in the future. Every time you come in contact with a compound your system becomes more resistant to it. Over a period of time this can become quite serious. So be careful of not only those chemicals that have warnings, but of the supposed "safe" ones as well.

Rose

Isabella

Rose, dechlorinators don't have carcinogenic substances, DO THEY? Because I mix water with my dechlorinator with my bare hands ALL THE TIME ...

chickadee

No most of the chemicals I am talking about do not have carcinogenic agents, but they can still cause adverse reactions through repeated exposure to the skin if the proper care is not taken. Any chemical put in the tank can. That is why I do suggest using gloves as long as you are only putting your hands in the water a little ways. If you are goings to have your hands in far enough to go past the top of the gloves though where the water will be getting into the glove then you are much better off to not have them on as to have the water trapped next to the skin. And ALWAYS keep your hands out of the water if you have any open areas even the size of a paper cut or a hangnail. It is not a myth about some rare fish bacteria being contagious to humans. In fact the bacteria is usually always in the tank water whether your fish have the disease or not. They may just have a good immunity to it. I saw a site on one such disease with pictures and shall continue to look for it to show them, but have not been able to find it just yet.

Rose

Isabella

I've been mixing the water with the dechlorinator for over TWO YEARS now, my hands unprotected (I wash them with soap after I put them in my tanks or after I mix the dechlor. with the water). Does that mean I am at an increased risk of something happening to me, like getting some cancer later on in my life? I mean, it is IMPOSSIBLE to maintain a fish tank without EVER putting your hands in the water. I don't have latex gloves as long as it would take for them to be in order to carry out regular maintenance. For example, I have to wet my hand at least above my elbows in order to perform a gravel vac. What does all of that mean Rose? Do I face cancer because of my hobby?

Why don't dechlorinator companies put explicit warnings on the bottles that their products are carcinogenic? They should write the warning in BOLD letters on the front of a bottle. I can't believe this.

P.S. I've heard that certain Seachem products have carcinogenic substances (particularly their plant fertilizers ... and God knows, maybe the gravels too?). I hate all of the chemical industries and big money-thirsty corporations. They'll use anything it takes to make money, even if it means exposing customers to deadly carcinogens WITHOUT due warning.

The "funny" fact is that U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows the big corporations to use carcinogens in OUR FOODS we buy at stores - most people completely unaware of the substances they consume. No wonder people get cancer. The same goes with respect to the products such as soaps, disinfectors, various cleaning liquids, lotions, creams, etc ... No responsible government in the world would allow the sale of any products containing ANY carcinogens whatsoever. Think about it: if no carcinogenic products were sold, doctors and hospitals would have no business ... so, we've gotta get people sick, right? Business is business ... after all. Yeah, way to go!

chickadee

No, No, No...I am overstating myself. Used tank water is indeed a danger to open skin, yes and should be taken VERY seriously.

Dechlor and chemicals not bearing the labels about carcinogenic agents can still cause allergic reactions that build up very slowly with continued use if they are used on exposed skin, especially in their concentrated forms. This is why I am stressing the importance of handwashing immediately after finishing the use of any chemical agents even those we may consider fairly harmless. Some of the allergic reactions that build up slowly on skin can be very hard to treat and cause other problems in more serious areas of the body if ignored.

Please do not let me frighten you into thinking you can get cancer from everything you touch, but allergies and infections are no joke. That is why I am so adamant about this.

Rose

Richard

Wow, sometime I'm driven to think the price of progress is too high..I mean, we're talking about fish-medication here..we can only hope the soaps and other sanitizers on the market don't ever become dangerous for our use!

Isabella

OK, thanks Rose ... I was getting really scared and saddened because I like this hobby so much. Not being able to keep fish because of some inherent risks associated with diseases would really make me sad.

Richard, if you ever want to be 100% sure that every single product you buy - be it food or personal care products as well as various detergents and cleaning substances - is safe and free of carcinogens, do a research on it. Read the label, see what it's made of, or how it was processed, and then find out if the substances contained in it or with which it was processed are carcinogenic. I am serious. I know that it would look obsessive if we checked "every single thing" we buy, but it is really the only way to know the truth since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (and surely many other countries) do not monitor what we eat for carcinogens. We're basically sold anything they want us to buy. It's all about the money, as I've said before. You can never be safe enough when it comes to your own health. Businesses don't care about your health, therefore you should be very careful out there and in what you buy and consume.

Here is but one good website that lists many products that we use EVERY DAY that contain carcinogens: http://www.ewg.org/ . It's called Environmental Working Group. When I first found it, I was shocked to see how many products that I personally use are on their list! Go to Report Archive on this website to search what you want, or just type the keywords in the space provided on the Report Archive page (as well as on other pages). You can simply type in the company name of the product you use and various info. about its products will come up, for example "L'Oreal" (such a "prestigious company and how many carcinogens they use!). You can also browse by Quick Index.

This is a Skin Deep report on EWG website, about the cosmetics and various body care we use (including soap): http://www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep2/?key=nosign . Very scary. Listen to this (an excerpt from the main page): "the government cannot mandate safety studies of cosmetics, and only 11 percent of the 10,500 ingredients FDA has documented in products have been assessed for safety by the cosmetic industry's review panel".

I think everyone should have this website saved. If you thoroughly review this website, you'll no longer be surprised why so many people get cancer and die of cancer today. Rose, what do you think of stickying this comment by me somewhere? I could copy the content of this message by me and post it somewhere so that people could refer to it, and to the website. It's our health we're talking about here.

chickadee

Good idea. Someone is going to say, I know I read that somewhere and then not be able to find it. Let's make it easier on them okay??

Rose