DETROIT (AP) Be warned: "Shin pads cannot protect any part of the body they do not cover."
That label on a pair of shin guards beat out nearly 100 competitors Wednesday to win the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch’s Wacky Warning Labels contest.
"I picked up the label and found it absolutely ridiculous," said Joe Schanderson, who won $500 for submitting the entry.
M-LAW, a nonprofit group formed in 1997, seeks to call attention to the effects of product-liability lawsuits. Contest winners were announced Wednesday after Michigan Talk Radio Network callers voted on five finalists two weeks ago.
Schanderson’s find beat out a label affixed to a toilet inside a public restroom: "Recycled flush water unsafe for drinking."
Other runners-up included:
‘Warning: Riders of personal watercraft may suffer injury due to forceful injection of water into body cavities either by falling into the water or while mounting the craft."
A warning on an electric router: "This product not intended for use as a dental drill."
A warning on a novelty rock garden set (called "Popcorn Rock"): "Eating rocks may lead to broken teeth!"
Dorigo Jones said many entries are discarded each year so as not to defeat an important message. Among those was a label printed on children’s toothpaste instructing parents to keep the paste away from children.
"It’s kind of funny on the surface, but we also know that if kids eat too much toothpaste, they can get sick," Dorigo Jones said.
