I just got a report from a friend who found a bunch of uncured epoxy under the cell holder of his WHY2025 badge. This was apparently already known amongst a few people, but has really not been communicated to the level that would be responsible by WHY orga. (no, it being mentioned in a couple of chats is not enough, the only reference I could find for it was a single wiki link that Juerd had at least added to the wiki even though he’s completely not responsible for this nonsense).
Anyway, hereby the warning that I also added to the wiki page.
WARNING: uncured epoxy is a a skin/eye irritant and can possibly cause allergic reactions (or cause you to become allergic to it). It is also toxic to the environment with possible long lasting consequences. If you discover there is uncured epoxy in your badge, the epoxy can be cured by leaving it in direct sunlight (not through a window) for some time. Alternatively, you can wipe it off while wearing gloves, and dispose of the uncured epoxy safely by letting it harden in sunlight. Do _not_ wash any uncured epoxy resin through the sink and do not just throw it (or your badge with uncured epoxy on it) in the trashbin.
I’m personally very much of the opinion that something like this at least deserves a mail warning people of this issue and informing them how to deal with it safely (I am, for instance, also unaware what epoxy was actually used, the actual SDS would be nice to have).
I’m not that interwoven in the WHY orga structure, does anyone know who would be the best to poke about making something like this actually happen?
The following in Dutch, use your own translator at discresion.
UV Resin Waarschuwing
Code Beschrijving
H302 Schadelijk bij inslikken.
H318 Veroorzaakt ernstig oogletsel
H335 Kan irritatie van de luchtwegen veroorzaken.
H410 Zeer giftig voor in het water levende organismen, met langdurige gevolgen.
P101 Bij het inwinnen van medisch advies, de verpakking of het etiket ter beschikking houden.
P102 Buiten het bereik van kinderen houden.
P261 Inademing van stof/rook/gas/nevel/damp/spuitnevel vermijden.
P271 Alleen buiten of in een goed geventileerde ruimte gebruiken.
P280 Draag beschermende handschoenen/beschermende kleding/oogbescherming/gelaatsbescherming/
gehoorbescherming.
P305+P351+P338 BIJ CONTACT MET DE OGEN: voorzichtig afspoelen met water gedurende een aantal minuten; contactlenzen verwijderen, indien mogelijk; blijven spoelen.
P310 Onmiddellijk een ANTIGIFCENTRUM/arts raadplegen
P330 De mond spoelen
As someone who is “interwoven”, I’m disillusioned to think that this would help much. Despite being informed of the other risks (overheating and fire) by multiple people who are deeply connected in the fabric of this community, they’ve chosen to move forward with an unsafe project, using a mitigation approach that was both inadequate (failing to sufficiently reduce the danger) and poorly executed (with some B+ areas left uncovered). Even the application of the epoxy was done without proper safety measures: no respirators, eye protection, or even proper ventilation (tent covers were shut at some point). And hardly anyone seemed concerned. During the course of this project, multiple potential harms, whether physical or psychological, have been consistently downplayed, so I doubt they’ll issue any kind of mass email warning.
You can consider to send a friendly e-mail to info@why2025.org to explain your point and ask them to consider for what you hope that will happen.
Please keep in mind that the info-team is tired and about to retire, and be aware that e-mail is used very sparingly because visitors did not leave their addresses for what could be seen as unsolicited spam.
Then maybe it can become a part of a closure message that touches multiple subjects, and perhaps added as additional information on the wiki as well?