2534. Always read the safety warnings

Daisy’s eyesight wasn’t what it used to be. And her punctiliousness had increased with age. For example, she carefully read every safety warning and ingredients list on anything that came in a package. Such attention to minute detail had determined what shampoo she used, and what she ate, and what brands to buy of almost everything.

The trouble was these days that often the print on the packaging was so small it was obviously never intended to be read. And coloured letters on a coloured background made reading almost impossible.

Daisy had purchased a tube of hand cream (her regular hand cream seems to have disappeared off the shop shelves). The list of “may-contains” was written in tiny letters in pale blue against a not-much darker blue background.

She had tried for a considerable time to decipher the safety message. Eventually with the help of a magnifying glass and by standing in the light coming through a window she was able to decipher the warning:

This product contains Octamethylcyclotetrasilox. Octamethylcyclotetrasilox may cause adverse reproductive effects. However, the concentration in this mixture is below the concentration cut-off required for classification.

“Oh thank goodness!” exclaimed Daisy. “I thought for a minute it contained Decamethylcyclopentasiloxane.”

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