Getting Rid of Chemical Smells from Cheap Chinese Stuff...

[Frontier]

Ever buy something, get it home, and find it smells funky? It happens more and more to me. I buy something, usually something cheap that I think is a good bargain, only to find it smells like chemicals. A lingering smell that just won't go the hell away and actually makes me sick. Sometimes it smells like gasoline or other harsh scents, other times it's got a sickly sweet almost fruity smell.

And every single blessed time it's Made in China. Although what isn't these days?

Right now it's a case for my tablet. Thought $7.99 was a good deal for something just like I'd paid $25 for as a gift recently. But like a lot of thrifty purchases lately, it's not only got that "Made in China" stamp on it, it's got that "Smells like Something that will Give you Cancer" scent along with it.

Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

Better yet, anyone else know how to get rid of such?

I've literally drowned the thing in febreeze to no effect. I've used febreeze to successfully get pet odors out of things in the past, so the fact that it's doing nothing to this really says a whole hell of a lot...

Anyway for $7.99 I knew it was a roll of the dice and I'm not upset at the small lost money, but I'd like to save it if I can. So if anyone has any ideas... let me know.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

You're certainly not alone. Google "Made in China Smell" and you'll get 28,000,000 results.

Explanations range from outgassing of chemicals used worldwide in the manufacturing of plastics and rubber to stabilize them which build up inside the airtight containers the products are shipped in (with the reason the Chinese products smell worse is because they've usually had to travel farther and been stored longer), to outdated toxic (and often illegal in the West) chemicals such as formaldehyde or sulfur used to harden or treat plastics and rubber used on products in China, to pesticides used to keep insects away from the products during the long boat ride.

Solutions usually aren't much more helpful than to say leave the product sitting outside to air out/break down in the sunlight until the smell goes away, or to cover the product in a stronger but more pleasant smelling chemical, unfortunately.

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/04/ask-lh-why-do-chinese-products-smell-so-weird/

http://dynamics.org/Altenberg/CURRENT_AFFAIRS/CHINA_PLASTIC/

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=569277
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=672436

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1623715

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=226552

 

[Frontier]

Sigh,I was afraid of that...

Really we should be testing this stuff. I know I won't buy food from China. Others I know try to buy as little as possible from such, but that's damn near impossible now days.

 

[SpocksLeftEar]

Don't blame the chinese, blame the companies in your own country that buy this stuff because it's cheaper and makes more profit. And blame the people who buy the stuff thinking they are making a bargain while knowing that the stuff cannot be produced and sold for such a low price unless something isn't right. Blame people like ... yourself! Sorry for saying that but you can't complain about a situation when you are one of the people who create such a situation in the first place.

 

[shivkala]

Vinegar is a good deodorizer. While I have not used it on plastics, it has helped deodorize my garbage disposal and a toilet.

Part 3 of these instructions tell how to use vinegar to clean items.

This site is about removing odors from plastic. Vinegar is one of the ingredients it suggests for creating a cleaning solution.

The thing to know about using vinegar is that it will smell like a salad with Italian dressing for a while, but that smell dissipates rather quickly.

I do recommend keeping vinegar around, as it is a good ingredient in some natural cleaning solutions that work quite well. It also helped me get chewing gum out of my kid's carpet.

 

[gturner]

A few weeks ago I ran across frozen frog legs that were imported from China. I kind of like the occasional batch of frog legs, even though I know that good quality American frogs eat flies. Then I wondered that if ours eat flies, what do Chinese frogs probably eat? So, I decided to stick to domestic fly-eating frogs.

 

[SpocksLeftEar]

A few weeks ago I ran across frozen frog legs that were imported from China. I kind of like the occasional batch of frog legs, even though I know that good quality American frogs eat flies. Then I wondered that if ours eat flies, what do Chinese frogs probably eat? So, I decided to stick to domestic fly-eating frogs.

Eating frog legs is sick.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

It's no sicker than eating chicken legs.

 

[SpocksLeftEar]

yes, it is since the frogs are killed only for their legs. I hate frog leg eaters.

 

[gturner]

Well, we could ship you the rest of the frog. Bon appetit!

*goes off to chow down on some leftover shrimp, which is what's leftover after the tails are removed*

 

[Timewalker]

A few weeks ago I ran across frozen frog legs that were imported from China. I kind of like the occasional batch of frog legs, even though I know that good quality American frogs eat flies. Then I wondered that if ours eat flies, what do Chinese frogs probably eat? So, I decided to stick to domestic fly-eating frogs.

Eating frog legs is sick.

It's no sicker than eating chicken legs.

Chickens aren't endangered. They're also not what I had to dissect in my Grade 10 biology lab and then have to watch my mother eating later at supper at a fancy restaurant.

I once took a failing grade in one of my junior high science classes rather than kill insects just to make an insect collection. I wish I'd dared do that in high school when I had to do dissections. I love earthworms, and that poor frog has haunted me for over 35 years. After graduating high school I vowed I would never take another science class that involved dissection.

 

[scotpens]

It's no sicker than eating chicken legs.

yes, it is since the frogs are killed only for their legs.

That's because the legs are the only part with enough meat to be worth cooking and eating. You wouldn't want to send an amputee frog back out into the world, would you?

Chickens aren't endangered.

Neither is the American bullfrog -- it gets a "Least Concern" conservation status rating.

I've never eaten frog legs myself, but I hear the taste is somewhere between chicken and fish.

 

[Timewalker]

From my dissection, I can confirm that a frog's innards resemble chow mein, at least to look at. I still find the idea of eating one disgusting.

 

[scotpens]

Well, we could ship you the rest of the frog. Bon appetit!

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy6uLfermPU[/yt]

 

[iguana_tonante]

I've never eaten frog legs myself, but I hear the taste is somewhere between chicken and fish.

Pretty much. Not my favourite dish, but they are ok.

On the other hand, I never had to dissect anything in high school. I'm not a barbarian.

 

[gturner]

Imagine small bird legs (such as quail or Cornish game hen) cooked in the same oil used to fry up multiple batches of generic fish, and perhaps allowed to sit the the grease a bit too long, and you'll be pretty close to the experience.

I don't eat frog legs very often, only every decade or so, but once had a neighbor's uncle try to kill me and my party very late one night for gigging frogs in his pond without permission. He had signs posted all around it saying "No frog killing!" with a backwards "N', because he wasn't highly literate. We figured a pond with protected frogs was obviously the place where all the really big frogs would be. ^_^

He must've seen our lights, because he slipped out with a 12-gage and rained shot down all around us. So we dove through his barbed-wire fences and tore off through his tobacco field, then waited an hour to go back for the bag of frogs that one of us dropped in mad haste. He was waiting for us, much closer in, and fired again. My friend screamed in mock pain, we ran again, and the old man laughed about getting one of us for weeks.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

yes, it is since the frogs are killed only for their legs. I hate frog leg eaters.

So what if we ate the whole frog that would be fine? Do you eat chicken heads?

 

[scotpens]

On the other hand, I never had to dissect anything in high school. I'm not a barbarian.

I dissected a pithed frog in high school biology. Also a sheep's heart. I don't consider myself a barbarian. A heathen, maybe.

 

[Timewalker]

On the other hand, I never had to dissect anything in high school. I'm not a barbarian.

In high school I didn't have as much leeway to accept failing grades as I did in junior high.

Would it make you happier to know that I've felt guilty for this ever since fall of 1977?

 

[iguana_tonante]

I don't consider myself a barbarian.

Barbarians never do.