[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 14 (Thursday, January 22, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3310-3311]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-1456]
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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
Notice of Approval of Guidance Document on Lead in Consumer
Products
AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.
ACTION: Notice of approval of guidance document on lead in consumer
products.
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SUMMARY: The Commission announces that it has approved a statement that
provides guidance for manufacturers, importers, distributors, and
retailers of consumer products that may contain lead.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Washburn, Office of Compliance,
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Washington, D.C. 20207; telephone
(301) 504-0400, ext. 1452.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The text of the guidance document is as follows:
Guidance for Lead (Pb) in Consumer Products
Summary
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issues this guidance to
manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers to protect
children from hazardous exposure to lead in consumer
products.1 The Commission identifies the major factors that
it considers when evaluating products that contain lead, and informs
the public of its experience with products that have exposed children
to potentially hazardous amounts of lead.
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\1\ This guidance is not a rule. It is intended to highlight
certain obligations under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act.
Companies should read that Act and the accompanying regulations at
16 CFR part 1500 for more detailed information.
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To reduce the risk of hazardous exposure to lead, the Commission
requests manufacturers to eliminate the use of lead that may be
accessible to children from products used in or around households,
schools, or in recreation. The Commission also recommends that, before
purchasing products for resale, importers, distributors, and retailers
obtain assurances from manufacturers that those products do not contain
lead that may be accessible to children.
Hazard
Young children are most commonly exposed to lead in consumer
products from the direct mouthing of objects, or from handling such
objects and subsequent hand-to-mouth activity. The
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specific type and frequency of behavior that a child exposed to a
product will exhibit depends on the age of the child and the
characteristics and pattern of use of the product. The adverse health
effects of lead poisoning in children are well-documented and may have
long-lasting or permanent consequences. These effects include
neurological damage, delayed mental and physical development, attention
and learning deficiencies, and hearing problems. Because lead
accumulates in the body, even exposures to small amounts of lead can
contribute to the overall level of lead in the blood and to the
subsequent risk of adverse health effects. Therefore, any unnecessary
exposure of children to lead should be avoided. The scientific
community generally recognizes a level of 10 micrograms of lead per
deciliter of blood as a threshold level of concern with respect to lead
poisoning. To avoid exceeding that level, young children should not
chronically ingest more than 15 micrograms of lead per day from
consumer products.
Guidance
Under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA), 15 U.S.C.
1261(f)(1), household products that expose children to hazardous
quantities of lead under reasonably foreseeable conditions of handling
or use are ``hazardous substances.'' A household product that is not
intended for children but which creates such a risk of injury because
it contains lead requires precautionary labeling under the Act. 15
U.S.C. 1261(p). A toy or other article intended for use by children
which contains a hazardous amount of lead that is accessible for
children to ingest is a banned hazardous substance. 15 U.S.C.
1261(q)(1)(B). In evaluating the potential hazard associated with
products that contain lead, the Commission staff considers these major
factors on a case-by-case basis: the total amount of lead contained in
a product, the bioavailability of the lead, the accessibility of the
lead to children, the age and foreseeable behavior of the children
exposed to the product, the foreseeable duration of the exposure, and
the marketing, patterns of use, and life cycle of the product.
Paint and similar surface coatings containing lead have
historically been the most commonly-recognized sources of lead
poisoning among the products within the Commission's jurisdiction. The
Commission has, by regulation, banned (1) paint and other similar
surface coatings that contain more than 0.06% lead (``lead-containing
paint''), (2) toys and other articles intended for use by children that
bear lead-containing paint, and (3) furniture articles for consumer use
that bear lead-containing paint. 16 CFR part 1303. In recent years,
however, the Commission staff has identified a number of disparate
products--some intended for use by children and others simply used in
or around the household or in recreation--that presented a risk of lead
poisoning from sources other than paint. These products included vinyl
miniblinds, crayons, figurines used as game pieces, and children's
jewelry.
In several of these cases, the staff's determination that the
products presented a risk of lead poisoning resulted in recalls or in
the replacement of those products with substitutes, in addition to an
agreement to discontinue the use of lead in future production. The
Commission believes that, had the manufacturers of these lead-
containing products acted with prudence and foresight before
introducing the products into commerce, they would not have used lead
at all. This in turn would have eliminated both the risk to young
children and the costs and other consequences associated with the
corrective actions.
The Commission urges manufacturers to eliminate lead in consumer
products to avoid similar occurrences in the future. However, to avoid
the possibility of a Commission enforcement action, a manufacturer who
believes it necessary to use lead in a consumer product should perform
the requisite analysis before distribution to determine whether the
exposure to lead causes the product to be a ``hazardous substance.'' If
the product is a hazardous substance and is also a children's product,
it is banned. If it is a hazardous household substance but is not
intended for use by children, it requires precautionary labeling. This
same type of analysis also should be performed on materials substituted
for lead.
The Commission also notes that, under the FHSA, any firm that
purchases a product for resale is responsible for determining whether
that product contains lead and, if so, whether it is a ``hazardous
substance.'' The Commission, therefore, recommends that, prior to the
acquisition or distribution of such products, importers, distributors,
and retailers obtain information and data, such as analyses of chemical
composition or accessibility, relevant to this determination from
manufacturers, or have such evaluations conducted themselves.
Dated: January 15, 1998.
Sadye E. Dunn,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 98-1456 Filed 1-21-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P