Is Blue-Black Ink Now Illegal?

[markh]

At yesterday's S.F. Pen show, I was at the Pendemonium table looking for some inks - one being Pelikan blue/black.

 

I was told that Pel b/b was no longer being imported - it is prohibited by U.S. law due to a toxic ingredient. Same for Waterman, Lamy, and maybe others. Just blue-black, not other colors.

 

Anyone know any details about this?

 

I presume the toxic nature applied to drinking ink straight from the bottle, as opposed to what I write using it. Which I could better understand....

 

???

 

.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

AFIAK distribution to North America was halted due to one of the ingredients of the Pelikan 4001 BlBk not being included in some list of 'safe' things.

 

This Topic dealt with a similar topic at some length: LINK

 

I am not aware of any of any other company stopping distribution of their BlBk inks for similar reasons.

 

Bye,

S1

[dickydotcom]

Perhaps your government read the thread on those who quick start a skipping pen by licking the nib?

 

Dick D

[ThirdeYe]

Hi,

 

AFIAK distribution to North America was halted due to one of the ingredients of the Pelikan 4001 BlBk not being included in some list of 'safe' things.

 

This Topic dealt with a similar topic at some length: LINK

 

I am not aware of any of any other company stopping distribution of their BlBk inks for similar reasons.

 

Bye,

S1

 

This is what I've heard as well. I also haven't heard of any other brands discontinuing their blue-blacks. As far as I know, one can still find Montblanc Midnight Blue, Lamy Blue-Black, Parker Quink Blue-Black, Diamine Blue-Black, etc. etc. If this has changed, someone please feel free to correct me.

 

Best,

Derek

[Jerome Tarshis]

Well, Lamy has *reformulated* its blue-black ink, but there's nothing illegal about selling blue-black ink. As has been pointed out, lots of pen companies are still doing it, and Pelikan's is still for sale in most countries.

 

Pelikan could be selling a reformulated BB in the United States if it chose to make the effort. The somewhat hidden point here would seem to be that sales of Pelikan BB in the United States and the few other countries where the ink is no longer sold are too small for Pelikan to bother about.

 

The idea of toxicity presumably applies to the safety of the workers who make the ink, and who are exposed to much larger quantities of the chemical ingredients than we final users of the ink would be.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Pelikan is often now ignored when US folks are talking inks. So it has little market share in the US, so as stated is not worth bothering about a small market.

 

Once it was as big as Parker and Sheaffer in the US, being cheaper.Back in silver dime days I used more Pelikan than expensive US inks in school.

 

If you saved hard, you could buy five Topps baseball cards with a bit of gum for 5¢. Back in the day, money was written with a big M.

[welch]

Pelikan is often now ignored when US folks are talking inks. So it has little market share in the US, so as stated is not worth bothering about a small market.

 

Once it was as big as Parker and Sheaffer in the US, being cheaper.Back in silver dime days I used more Pelikan than expensive US inks in school.

 

If you saved hard, you could buy five Topps baseball cards with a bit of gum for 5¢. Back in the day, money was written with a big M.

 

Yes, I remember those days: about 1959. You could also get a ten-cent pack pf card in cellophane, which we liked because we could see the top and bottom players. A pack was always worth more if you could get one of the Washington Senators in it.

 

Sheaffer Skrip Writing Fluid was about 25 cents then.

 

In fact, I only remember Skrip and Quink...no Waterman or Carter's ink.

[lsmith42]

Of course, if you (or a very good friend) travel to just about anywhere in Europe, it can be brought home for amazingly little money...

 

At least, that's what I do...

 

(now, for an excuse to go to Japan so I can bring home paper...) :hmm1: