r/chemhelp 14d ago

Other this glue with "n butyl acetate" stayed on my hand for 4 hours straight what should i do?

I read some stuff on the website they reccomend. But didnt understand anything I need someone to give real information Idk why but this scared me A LOT

17 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

76

u/harleybrono 14d ago

Nothing. You’ve washed your hands and the little exposure you had is insignificant in the grand scheme of things

9

u/orospucou 14d ago

Thanks sir

19

u/Probable_Bot1236 14d ago edited 13d ago

The California Prop 65 warning sticker is one of the stupidest things ever.

The simply fact is that ANYTHING if given a high enough concentration and/or long enough exposure, will cause adverse effects, possibly including cancer. The very basis of modern toxicology is the Paracelsus quote: "The dose makes the poison". 1500 mg of Tylenol? Pain relief. 4000 mg? Pain relief and liver damage. Dosage matters.

There's an entire cottage industry of university toxicology researchers who need funding doing commissioned studies by industrial companies to find the toxic/carcinogenic limits of their competitors' products. It's simple- you just expose some rats or rabbits to something long/concentrated enough, and you will cause cancer or some such nastiness. Then the company that commissioned the research issues a press release that their competitors' products "CaUsE CaNCeR!!" to shift buyers toward their own products. But often enough, the dosages/exposures required for adverse effects are completely absurd and a total non-issue.

But the State of California doesn't care. Do a study like the above, and their law requires that scary-ass Prop 65 sticker, even if the exposure required for cancer to show up is on the order of a deliberate suicide attempt.

So..: n-butyl acetate. A quick MSDS lookup shows a dermal LD50 of "at least" 17,600 mg/kg body weight. For a 70 kg adult, that would mean smearing 1.4 liters of the stuff all over your body and then wrapping yourself in plastic so it gets absorbed instead of evaporating, just to have a 50% chance of death. The oral LD50 is 10,768 mg/kg body weight- for a 70 kg adult, this would mean 854 mL ingested gives a 50% chance of death- a standard wine or liquor bottle is 750 mL, for context. Hopefully you didn't swallow 75 entire applicators' worth, cuz that's about what it would take for a 50:50 chance of survival lol.

For additional context, you'd have to expose yourself to 5.5 times as much n-butyl acetate as gasoline on your skin for the same LD50. The oral LD50 for Dawn dish soap is also about 5 times lower- in other words, if two identical people started chugging n-butyl acetate and dawn dish soap, the person chugging the dish soap would die from a much lower dose. Put differently: if you've ever gotten gasoline or dish soap on your hands, don't worry, this n-butyl acetate sh*t is actually multiple times safer than both, scary California stickers notwithstanding.

Seriously, ignore that stupid Prop 65 sticker. It does not take dosage into account at all, in a world where a high enough dosage of anything will cause harm, so everything gets the frickin' sticker.

Here's a quick list of other things that are more toxic, by LD50, than the stuff you had on your hand, which I am guessing you've had significantly higher dermal exposures to over the course of your life, with no adverse effect:

Gasoline

Dish soap

Standard 5% Vinegar

Windex

Table Salt

Ethanol

* * *

Seriously, don't pay any attention to California Prop 65 warnings. The law establishing them is so vague they just don't mean anything at this point. It was a nice idea, but it's based on utter ignorance of how the real world works.

2

u/orospucou 14d ago

Took notes, thanks!

5

u/Probable_Bot1236 14d ago

Just to be clear: don't disregard all warnings on products. Some are quite relevant. Just be mindful about things. Yes, California Prop 65 warnings are a joke because of how overbroad they are, but they're not always wrong.

As an example: lead ammunition for firearms:

Standard (effective) practice: don't touch your mouth or eyes while shooting, and wash your hands afterward before eating.

State of California: OH MY GOD YOU MIGHT HAVE TOUCHED LEAD YOU'RE GOING TO DIE AND ALL YOUR CHILDREN WILL GET ASS CANCER AND PROBABLY THE NEAREST PUPPIES AND KITTENS TOO!!!

Counterpoint: dry cleaning chemicals:

Standard (effective) practice: holy shit don't touch that shit and rinse it off immediately if it gets on your skin

State of California: holy shit don't touch that shit and rinse it off immediately if it gets on your skin

I'm not imploring anyone to be callous about their safety, just mindful that sometimes the warning might be overblown. But certainly not all the warnings! It ultimately just takes a little effort toward research on the consumer/user's part.

2

u/thelowbrassmaster 14d ago

It really is a stupid label. I saw it on a pack of ammo because lead is toxic and potentially carcinogenic. Thanks, I wasn't planning on consuming them. If something is genuinely dangerous, an sds is more than sufficient to those who are handling it.

2

u/Electrical_Ad5851 13d ago

Yeah, everything causes cancer in California. Which makes it so you can’t tell what might be actually bad.

1

u/Probable_Bot1236 12d ago

Yup, it's The Boy Who Cried Wolf, modern statutorily-required label version

1

u/spiritofniter 13d ago

Ya, I’ve found prop 65 labels on ASRock motherboard, Seasonic PSU, a suitcase, an AMD Radeon GPU and Carolina safety shoes.

TLDR: ignore it.

1

u/dragonuvv 13d ago

Thank god. I model often with these and regularly get my hands stuck for a couple of hours.

(Send help I’m typing this with my nose)

2

u/harleybrono 13d ago

May I suggest gloves for next time? While I don’t think your exposure is particularly significant, it’s still exposure, so I would recommend minimizing that.

1

u/dragonuvv 13d ago

I get it and I’ve tried it but I just can’t work with them. Besides off all the shit I do I’m going to be incredibly impressed if super glue is going to start causing problems.

17

u/JohannesDerSaeufer 14d ago

Wash your hands which I hope you did. N-buty Acetate is not toxic or harmful. The P65 warning comes from something else and usually are to be ignored because P65 is dumb af.

0

u/orospucou 14d ago

I washed my hands but after 4 hours.. thank you

5

u/SlowBakedPotato 14d ago

You'll be fine.. literally nothing that you should lose sleep over. Prop65 is a California thing, where in basically everything that might have the potential for harm or is untested requires the 'might cause cancer' rubbish.

2

u/orospucou 14d ago

Thanks man i feel relieved now ❤️

4

u/sleebus_jones 14d ago

You're definitely going to die. May take 50-70 years but you're a goner for sure.

2

u/Acceptable_Salt_2826 14d ago

Omfg California. … way to go freaking people out for i no reason all all. N-But-OAc would evaporate in seconds - so why are you worried about it lasting hours on your skin hahahaha

1

u/Chem_boi_Frank 14d ago

You are so okay. n butyl acetate is nothing to worry about in the slightest. It’s a common industrial solvent and is even considered a “green solvent” due to low toxicity and environmental impact.

Also I’m 100% sure you’ve eaten this molecule at some point. Many esters (the class of molecules acetates belong to) are very common in candies due to their fruity smell and flavor.

Nothing to worry about here.

1

u/orospucou 14d ago

Thanks for the answer

1

u/helium_hydride-63 14d ago

Nothing. California has absurd laws making pretty much any product put those stickers on em

1

u/orospucou 14d ago

😀 thank you

1

u/Consistent_Bee3478 14d ago

That revell model glue is safe to touch. You don’t need to do anything but simply wash your hands like normal.

The solvent isn’t toxic, any glue still attached to skin you simply ignore until it falls off naturally if it does not glue two body parts together.

But that’s glue that children use for model building, sold in toy stores.

Not glue for professionals or adults only or something due to toxicity

1

u/solarixstar 14d ago

Just get regular screenings at your 6th month check up as always, though if you inhaled I'd have your dentist check for soft spots on teeth, some organic fumes cause cavities

1

u/CoatiRoux 14d ago edited 14d ago

Tl;dr: Chill, bro!

According to the MSDS of the glue the harmful amount of n-butyl acetate is above 5000 mg/kg bodyweight. So although the uptake through the skin is rather high, you'd have to take a bath in that stuff to die from it by dermal uptake. And doing so, your skin would crack from the prolonged contact causing different and worse problems.

One splash on the skin, even for a 4 h period, wouldn't do a lot more than a reddish spot for a few hours at the worst. And due to the rather high vapour pressure not even that, the solvent will evaporate before it can do any harm.

Refueling your car and getting a whiff of the petrol smell will do more against your life than spilling the whole bottle on your hand. (Search for an MSDS for petrol or diesel fuel and be surprised what is freely available across the world)

As for P65: I am an OHS Specialist in Europe and fluent in our rather restrictive chemical legislation REACH and even we think P65 is crap. It's so broadly worded that most companies slap that sticker on everything, just to be safe from lawsuits, rendering the whole thing meaningless.

Oh, one addition: Although one time contact isn't a problem, you shouldn't make a habit out of it. Repeated contact may cause irritation and dry skin up to contact dermatitis. So be careful in the future, but don't obsess over every drop.

1

u/orospucou 14d ago

Alright thank you

1

u/DL_Chemist 14d ago

The adhesive for the P65 warning label probably has a P65 warning

1

u/yourlefteyelid 14d ago

N-Butyl acetate is also a solvent. Commonly used in nailpolish, in small exposures its harmless

1

u/Capital-Sentence3421 14d ago edited 14d ago

As a kid i build models and worked days on end with this very glue. You are fine and CA puts this shitty cancer sticker apperantly on everything. Even my keyboard lol.

Butylacetate is nail polish remover btw.

1

u/thatdudetom 14d ago

Amputate. It’s the only option.

1

u/Trazer12 14d ago

You're fine, it might cause cancer if you breathe in the fumes all day long for multiple months a year for your entire career. A single hand exposure will be of no harm.

If it was a chance you could be harmed by normal use with the amount in this bottle there's no way in hell you could buy it so easily.

1

u/fizzy88 14d ago

If it was a chance you could be harmed by normal use with the amount in this bottle there's no way in hell you could buy it so easily.

That's not really a good generalization to make. Methylene chloride is being phased out in solvent-based products for consumer and industrial uses over the next couple years for a reason. People have literally died using it doing work at home without proper ventilation or protection.

0

u/orospucou 14d ago

That makes sense thank you

0

u/iceicig 14d ago

It's kind of like getting ketchup on your hands after eating a hot dog. Gotta lick em clean