this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2025
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Yeah the original process as I understand it involved lead. Some decades ago better processes came out that don't involve it but as I understand it you can save a trivial amount by using the old process so a not insignificant amount of Chinese factories that produce for the US/NA use PVC made in older Chinese factories with the older process because it makes them more competitive and their buyers don't give a shit and just pressure them on price to the point of pinching pennies. US could easily stop this with a law like RoHS but you know.
Mind you it's not a huge amount of lead in most cases but I'd prefer to wash my hands after handling most cables before picking up and eating some food. Certainly if I've spent an hour handling various cables of unknown character I'd thoroughly wash my hands with soap and water for 30 seconds and wipe them.
I mainly know this because I live in California and tons of these things have prop65 warnings about lead on them. Especially extension cords, cheap store brand power strips, etc. I've seen it with more expensive products as well such as some laptops for the power cable (down to manufacturer I think and maybe product line) though it's somewhat less likely as once you get into $150 for an air fryer or whatever it makes less sense to penny pinch to save 50 cents than on a $19 product (though if the company wants to be cheap about it they can and will I guess).
If you live in the EU because of RoHS there isn't any real risk there.
If you're buying products you can look for the RoHS certification and if they have that it means they don't use the old lead process. When I browse from a California IP address a number of online retailers note prop65 warnings (sometimes only in check-out) for products.
Unfortunately because power cables in particular are a segregated market with the EU, Aus, and most of the world having entirely different plug styles from the US it's practical for manufacturers to just make the US cables using the cheap leaded process while using the better process for all other markets.