[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.<SUP>1</SUP> 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

[[Page 3311]]

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