Document 8R9xwnGB0eQmBw2wjQw0dbMJd

/ y*_ r #-*' i*<_< * s 4* ^- MINUTES of Meeting of the Legal Advisory Committee of the Manufacturing Chemists' Association, Inc., held at Mr. Koszel's Office, 30 East 42nd Street, New York City, Friday, January 6, 1950, at 9:00 a.a. There were present1 Messrs. Richard F. Hansen (Chairman) Carl Anderson J. D. Gunther W. G. Reynolds G. T. Seriba (for W. C. Boszel) tfm. Atack, du Pont (guest) I. STATS AND MUNICIPAL REGULATIONS FOR TRANSPORTATION OF DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES (a) The Chairman referred to the definitions of flammable liquids contained in the National Fire Protection Association's "1949 Draft of The Suggested Ordinance for the Storage, Handling and Use of Flammable Liquids" and in the proposed Los Angeles Dangerous Chemical Cod , and pointed out that each of these definitions was inconsistent with that recommended by MCA in its Manual L-l. In view of the fact that both NFPA and the Los Angeles Fir Department prescribed the use of the Tagllabue closed cup method for determining the flash point of flammable liquids, the Chairman p sed the question whether or not the Legal Advisory Committee should recommend that the MCA or ICC, or both, use the closed cup method* In this connection, it was pointed out that the closed cup method is also the standard of the American Petroleum Institute, the American Standards Association, and Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., and that this method is endorsed by the National Board of Fire Underwriters. In addition, Capt. Bahme of the Los Angeles Fire Department has force fully insisted that the MCA and ICC are very much behind the times in continuing to recommend the use of the open cup method. The Committee discussed at length the complications which would result from any change in the test prescribed by ICC regulations and unanimously resolved that Mr. Crass be requested to appoint a special committee composed of one representative of the Legal Advisory Committee and one representative of each of the Technical Committees I of MCA to consider this question. At Mr. Reynolds'request, Mr. Atack agreed to obtain and tabulate the open and closed cup flash points on the principal chemical products. CMA 086327 2. (b) Mr. Atack pointed out that the 1922 Federal Statute under which the ICC regulates traffic in dangerous commodities, requires the shipper to inform the carrier of the dangerous character of each com modity shipped, pointing out that the statute specifically refers to "dangerous articles." He further stated that MCA Manual L-l now recom mends that certain chemicals not specifically required by ICC requlatlons to bear one of the ICC labels be labeled, among other things, "danger" as, for example, acetic acid. Therefore, any shipper following the MCA recommendation automatically brings such a product within the scope of the 1922 Statute and requires the product to bear the appropriate ICC label unless a permit for the omission of such a label has been ob tained from ICC. He stated that au Pont had for this reason obtained a permit for the shipment of acetic acid (under the MCA) without need for an ICC label. (c) The Chairman posed the question whether the Legal Advisory Committee should attempt to revise the Suggested NFPA Ordinance on which comment and criticism has been invited. It was agreed that the ordinance was very lengthy and com plicated and contained much irrelevant matter and that an effort should be made to have the RFPA exempt from the application of the ordinance all articles labeled and shipped in accordance with ICC or Coast Guard. requirements, as well as all articles not required to be labeled by ICC or Coast Guard. In view of the extensive work already done by Mr. Reynolds, he agreed t-* write comments for ^consideration by the Committee. II. PROPOSED MCA MODEL STATE LAW GOVERNING PRECAUTIONARY LABELING OF HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS The Chairman reported that in a recent conference a Deputy Commissioner of Labor and Industry of the State of New Jersey, advised that his office was engaged in the preparation of a State Statute governing the labeling of all hazardous chemicals and that a similar proposal was now being considered by certain officials of the State of Ohio. It was further pointed out that the proposed New Jersey Statut would follow the general pattern of the General Safety Orders Issued by the California State Department of Industrial Relations in that It would set forth the text of the precautionary statements to be included on each product. For this reason, the question was raised whether the Legal Advisory Committee should continue its efforts to prepare a Model State Lav on labeling which, in general terms, would incorporate the common lav rule of negligence* It was the unanimous opinion of the Committee that this approach should be continued and that preparation of the MCA Model State Law should be expedited as much as possible. Mr. Reynolds volunteered to ascertain whether or not the Hoover Commission Reports had made any recommendations regarding con solidation of different federal agencies having to do with product labeling. CMA 086328 3 III. NATURE. EFFECT AND EXTENT OF USE OF CHEMICALS. SYNTHETICS. INSECTICIDES. AND FERTILIZERS IM FOODS The Committee discussed briefly the pending Keefe and Sabath resolutions for Congressional investigations concerning chemicals; the forthcoming Food and Drug Tolerance Hearings; the meeting of various interested parties sponsored by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council on December 29, 19^9; and the Annual Meeting of the Section on Food, Drug and Cosmetic Law of the New York State Bar Association on January 26, 1950 regarding pesticides* It was the opinion of the Committee that the regulation of pesticides should remain the province of the U. S. Department of Agri culture, except as the Food and Drug Act now provides for tolerance hearingsi that it would be appropriate for the Food and Drug Adminis tration to have Jurisdiction over all chemicals added to foodstuffs after harvest; and that it is premature at this time to consider any amendments to Federal Statutes concerning pesticides since 'many of the probl ms involved will be resolved by the forthcoming tolerance hearings* IV. DRAFT OF CUMULATIVE SUPPLEMENT BY MCA TO "CONFIDENTIAL REPORT ON ADEQUATE LABELING" It was the unanimous opinion of the Committee that it would be advisable to revise and bring up-to-date the "Confidential Report on Adequate Labeling", prepared by vMr. Anderson in 1936, so as to include recent important cases on the subject and set forth additional sec tions, if any, required to Illustrate new principles established or n w trends indicated by recent court decisions* However, it was unanimously voted that neither the proposed supplement to the report prepared by Mr. Harrington, nor the recent paper read by Mr. Bartenst in at the LAPI Conference on December 7 19^9. was appropriate for this purpose. In view of the magnitude of the task of revising the report, the matter was continued on the docket for subsequent consideration by th Committee, and Mr. Reynolds requested that the Chairman have a copy of the report forwarded to him by Mr. Crass. V MCA SAFETY DATA SHEETS E PROCEDURE ON LEGAL APPROVAL Aside from numerous other changes on which the Committee had already agreed, two additional objections had been raised to the prop sed Safety Data Sheet on Hydrogen Sulfide, namely (1) that the Medi cal Section indicates that hydrogen sulfide is a highly toxic gas which may produce death, and it was questioned whether the label included in the Safety Data Sheet adequately covered this subject; and (2) th Medical Section referred to an eye hazard which was not referred to on the label. CMA 086329 The Chairman reported that Dr, Cranch had discussed each of these points with Mr. Roszel who made the objections and that he believed Mr. Roszel was now satisfied with the label, as written. In addition, Mr. Scriba pointed out that the label, unlike all other labels in the LAPI Manual states, in prominent type in the first part of the label "BEFORE USING, READ M.C.A. CHEMICAL SAFETY DATA SHEET SD-36.h This statement was included on the label because any .reason able description of the hazards in question would unduly lengthen and detract from the efficacy of the label. Under the circumstances, the Committee voted unanimously to 6approve the final draft of Safety Data Sheet SD-36, subject to criti cisms previously agreed upon, and that Mr. Crass be so advised. How- : ev r, it was also agreed that a procedure should be established wher Vr the Legal Advisory Committee would have an adequate opportunity in the\ future to pass upon the full text of any new labels that might be pre- ] pared, prior to their incorporation in any Safety Data Sheet or oth r f MCA publication. / VI. SENATOR PEPPERS BILL TO REQUIRE DISTINCTIVE CONTAINERS FOR CERTAIN POISONOUS DRUGS Mr. Anderson advised that this matter would he thoroughly handled by the American Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and other interested parties and that, in his opinion, no action was re quired In connection therewith by the MCA. In addition, it was pointed out that the Food and Drug Administration had, as an alternative, sug gested the possibility of an amendment to the Federal Caustic Pols n Act. It was agreed that this Committee should* await further developments VII. SENATOR GILLETTE1S HILL TO AMEND THE FEDERAL FOOD. DRUG AND COSMETIC ACT TO REQUIRE LABELING OF SOAP AND DETERGENTS It was believed that this bill might well die in Committee but that if and when interest in the bill again became active, th MCA should oppose it. VIII.LIABILITY FOR DAMAGE TO CROPS RESULTING FROM AIR CONTAMINANTS A brief discussion was had regarding the advisability of having the MCA collect and disseminate to manufacturers information on this subject. No conclusion was reached and the matter will be carried over for further discussion. CMA 086330 5. IX. PRECAUTIONARY LABELING OF TANK CARS ,r^ C' /y sj C It was the unanimous opinion of the Committee that although some manufacturers have seen fit to put precautionary labeling on tank cars,it was not advisable for the MCA to recommend such action at this time. It was agreed that although the same principle applies to tank car labeling as to the labeling of any other containers, common sense indicates that precautionary labeling of tank cars Is not neces sary since the unloading of tank cars is covered by special highly technical manuals and the typical data included in MCA labels relates to the use and handling of the contents and ainy gaed unloading procedures. t k e-7 "to ) < \ Richard F. Hansen Chairman CMA 086331 7. Jti u f/ farlrt * 6" /Of. A., ,z, ^ -S' < t-**l_x'i^^- / <*f j 2 ^2 // <. ,.<; f-bw'i - &vwA- <tO Y'f/-^' i \ f-, t-1^-> *" /^^ **-? // o o CooD>> Gto>