You’d think a warning on the back of a package of scissors would caution people against cutting themselves or running, but Fiskars have done one better. They warn people that their product can cause cancer, birth defects and/or reproductive harm.

One alert parent at Cherry Lane Elementary School noticed the warning and brought it to the attention of the administration. The school provided Fiskars scissors to first, third and fifth-graders in a PTA-provided supply package. The scissors were collected by the teachers and replaced with non-toxic scissors.

One administrator admitted the schoolwide recall might have been a tad overkill, but that, what with all the toy recalls, it was better to be safe than sorry.

For Fiskars’ reason for the warning, click “here”:http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/aboutus/faq.aspx#14.

added 9/20. A copy of the story that ran in the Journal News can be found “here”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070920/NEWS03/709200362/1019/NEWS03.

The president of Fiskars e-mailed us with this statement:

I am Chad Vincent and the President of Fiskars. Please let me assure you that our scissors are 100% safe, and do not and did not require the warning on the back to the packaging.

So, why did we add it in the first place?
We are a very conservative company, and when Prop 65 came out with a list of chemicals 18 pages long, we placed the warning, needed or not, on all items until we could confirm the specific contents required by California law – Proposition 65 . Fiskars has thousands of products, and we wanted to be extremely cautious and thorough. Our analysis has indicated that the products are completely safe and always have been.