Tamiya aerosol spray cans banned in Canada

[Christa]

14 hours ago, thierry laurent said:

I'm also wondering if this is not because they are sold in hobby shops. 

Is it possible that Canadian legislators believe Canadian hobby shops are where Canadian children spend their Canadian dollars on Tamiya rattle cans which, when used in those kids' Canadian homes, perhaps compromise the healthy develpment of immature Canadian lungs?

 

Has this been thoroughly facts checked?

[thierry laurent]

1 hour ago, Christa said:

Is it possible that Canadian legislators believe Canadian hobby shops are where Canadian children spend their Canadian dollars on Tamiya rattle cans which, when used in those kids' Canadian homes, perhaps compromise the healthy develpment of immature Canadian lungs?

 

Has this been thoroughly facts checked?

I'm wondering as we had some similar issues in Europe. Some hobby paints had to be drastically modified some years ago. The good news is the fact most modelling companies are generally very responsive to adapt their products.

[Greif8]

31 minutes ago, thierry laurent said:

I'm wondering as we had some similar issues in Europe. Some hobby paints had to be drastically modified some years ago. The good news is the fact most modelling companies are generally very responsive to adapt their products.

 

Thierry, your comment reminded me of the sad end of the JPS line of acrylic paints here in Germany.  As they were originally formulated, those paints were fantastic to use and the JPS colors were quite accurate.  Unfortunately the enviromental department of German government determined that the paints were dangerous to use and the owner and maker of the paints had to change the formulation.  The paints were never the same and fairly shortly after the enforced switch was made went out of production.  

 

Ernest

[Rob Owens]

WOW! If I fly into Canada, will CBSA shake my baggage to see if it "rattles"?? And how many cans can I pack into the spare tire well in the trunk of my car??  "Movimiento del producto al norte" just took on a whole new meaning for those of us in the US! 

Edited October 2, 2024 by Rob Owens
spelling

[BloorwestSiR]

5 hours ago, Christa said:

Is it possible that Canadian legislators believe Canadian hobby shops are where Canadian children spend their Canadian dollars on Tamiya rattle cans which, when used in those kids' Canadian homes, perhaps compromise the healthy develpment of immature Canadian lungs?

 

Has this been thoroughly facts checked?

Back in the '70s, it was prohibited from selling plastic model cement to minors here in Toronto. My LHS still has a picture from that time showing a sign in a sign window. 

[Alex]

22 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

I can literally drive down to Home Depot 5 min from my house and they have all SORTS of  aerosol products I could purchase that would be every bit and more harmful to me to use than a Tamiya rattle can.

Yeah but it may not be "harmful to you" that the govt is regulating here, but rather harmful to the environment (i.e. harmful to all of us, future generations, etc).  And might not be the propellant they are concerned about.  In the US, CFCs were banned as spray can propellants at the same time they were banned as refrigerants in decades past, but that's long ago.  I just looked at a couple of Tamiya cans I have and they are using hydrocarbon propellants - butane and propane (do not smoke while spraying...).  But I also looked at a can of hardware store spray paint and it's the same - the propellant is propane.  

 

The can of Tamiya TS-26 white has a *bunch* of complex organic compounds listed though, including a couple of different formaldehyde organic copolymers.  It may be that there are classes of organics that they are trying to remove from VOC.

 

I suppose I'm not too worried about this even if a similar ban were to happen in the US (as long as the paint isn't banned in liquid form!), since I find spray cans generally to be a pain to use and hard to control relative to the airbrush.

[Alex]

A little bit of internet digging found (on reddit, so not confirmed by any means) the suggestion that the culprit is 2-butoxyethanol in the Tamiya propellant.  Apparently there have been limits on this (fairly toxic) substance on the books in Canada for close to two decades, so this seems more like a laggard enforcement action rather than some new law (if the above is true).   Hopefully, if the Canadian market is large enough it will be in Tamiya's interest to reformulate the propellant to address this.  This is one situation where more regulation would really help - if it were similarly banned say in Europe, Tamiya would have a much bigger motivator to change the stuff. 

[firefly7]

As long as it's not banned in the U.S.,   Cheers.

[Brad-M]

9 hours ago, firefly7 said:

As long as it's not banned in the U.S.,   Cheers.

Bully for you

[Christa]

Hats off to everyone adding to our knowledge of this issue. Thank you.

[nmayhew]

On 10/1/2024 at 3:48 PM, thierry laurent said:

I'm also wondering if this is not because they are sold in hobby shops. Otherwise I'm afraid it would not be possible either to get any car paint/primer spray can...!?!

That was my first thought too

[BloorwestSiR]

 

It seems the ban has been expanded a bit. It now includes Tamiya Lacquer thinner, Metal Primer, and their enamel Gold paint in bottles). 

 

Further, any remaining stock still in stores must be returned to the importer after Dec 31. 

 

Tamiya Lacquer thinner with retarder isn't part of the ban (yet) so that's still available. 

 

I decided it was best to stock up and bought more thinner today when at the LHS.  

 

Carl

[LSP_Ron]

I’m really going to miss their sprays.  The line of semi gloss, flat and gloss black are very handy as is all their car body colors, big selection of silvers and most of all, the primer.

 

Bummer

[LSP_Mike]

What a joke. A sad one at that. LHS owners reduced to selling cans of paint like contraband after the 31th.

[Oldbaldguy]

“Minister!  Minister!” cried the young sub altern.  “There are grown men having fun!  I have seen them!”  
 

“Ah, dear boy,” replied the minister. “Are they dancing at a Taylor Swift concert?”

 

”No, Minister,” replied the breathless young man.  “They are in their own homes, building plastic models of things once used by brave men to keep our enemies at bay.”

 

”Whaaaat???” shrieked the minister, his face going purple.  “How dare they?  I’ll not have it!  Ban them!  Jail them!  Seize their property!  Debank them!  There is no place in this country for the likes of these troublemakers!  Who do they think they are?”