[Stacii Belle]

Hi, I am not a chemistry student but was recently presented with a rather disconcerting situation which I am hoping someone from the chemistry world can help shed some light on. I purchased a china made wallet at a discount store. Upon bringing it home and more closely examining my purchase I noticed a note within which read (accompanied by the strong sharp odor of some china made products) "warning: this product may contain chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer birth defects or other reproductive harm". This of course was startling. My first thought was that vinegar removes odor, perhaps it will neutralize the chemical. I placed the wallet overnight in a ziplock full of white vinegar. In the morning it was removed, rinsed and propped up to dry. That evening I noticed a white and rust crystallized substance appearing on sections. At first I thought it was from an unrelated source so I rinsed it and again left it to dry. The second day it was back and increased in size and amount of this white and rust colored crystalized growth. My apologies for his long description but I am seeking information on first, how harmful really is this chemical? Should I be concerned that it was in my kitchen sink? Second if it is harmful, is there a way to neutralize its effects from other products which may have it that I already use and own? Am I being unnecessarily concerned? Much thanks to any contribution shedding light on this.

[Ballistic]

Why on earth are you messing with this thing. You need to get rid of it. Without knowing what the chemical is, adding others like vinegar could equally liberate the chemical as dilute it.

[DrCMS]

It's hard to be sure but my guess would be that the wallet was dyed with a dye that might contain impurities/starting materials that may cause cancer.  Probably not but to satisfy Californian law they added the note just to cover their arse.

The state of California is a lot more "sure" about what causes cancer than the rest of the USA and Europe.  If the wallet definitely contained toxic materials above safe thresholds it would not be on sale in the US or Europe even with a little slip of paper telling you so.  California law is just stupid because it only gives you a bit of information but very few people have enough knowledge/intelligence to interpret it correctly.  I'd have happily used the wallet but would not have been happy to eat it.

However now you have soaked it in vinegar you have probably trashed it.

Would you expect to soak the wallet in water overnight and not wreck the leather? 

What is 95% of the vinegar you used?