CPSC Seeks Data On Levels Of Benzene Found In Various Consumer Products

 The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission unanimously has voted to order U.S. corporations to report to the Commission any deliberate uses of benzene, a potential cancer-causing chemical, in consumer products.

CPSC staff had accumulated data based on an economic analysis covering a period through 1978 indicating that benzene no longer was being added intentionally to consumer products. A general order will be issued within two months requiring any companies which used benzene as an intentional ingredient in consumer products manufactured, imported or privately labeled since January 1, 1979, to provide the Commission with specific information. The order will serve to verify and update CPSC's data.

The companies also will be required to update the information or report new uses of benzene in consumer products for a full year after publication of the general order in mid-June. Scientific evidence has shown links between exposure to benzene and the development of leukemia (cancer of the white blood cells) in humans, as well as other blood disorders and chromosomal abnormalities. Industrial workers have been reported to develop blood disorders when exposed to workplace levels of benzene.

Benzene is a chemical found naturally and in varying concentrations in crude oil. It has been used in combination with other chemicals to produce a number of effective solvents widely used in various consumer products. In addition, through the process of distillation, benzene may carry over as a contaminant in solvents such as toluene, hexane, heptane, textile spirits and rubber solvent. These solvents are used typically in consumer products such as paint and varnish removers, lacquer thinners, rubber cements, model cements and camping fuels.

Benzene itself is a solvent which is added intentionally to gasoline. Since CPSC is aware of this intentional use and since other federal agencies are interested in benzene levels in gasoline, the CPSC general order will exclude gasoline from its scope.

Intent Of The Order

The order will require manufacturers, importers and private labelers to identify any consumer products containing benzene which intentionally has been added, the concentration of benzene in the products, and the purpose the benzene serves, as well as the marketing patterns and consumer uses of the products. The general order also covers any company which markets benzene for us in educational institutions, such as the science laboratories of high schools and colleges.

While awaiting responses to the general order at the end of this summer, CPSC is sponsoring research to permit more accurate assessment of consumer exposure to benzene. A study of air levels of benzene released from various consumer products under controlled conditions is scheduled for completion by the end of next month.

The Commission also voted to extend by 180 days (to October 13, 1980) its deadline for taking final action on a proposed ban of benzene in consumer products. The ban was proposed by CPSC in May, 1978, to eliminate all uses of benzene as an intentional ingredient in products, and to limit its presence as a contaminant to less than one-tenth of one per cent (0.1 per cent).

In addition, the postponement also will allow CPSC to consider the impact of a forthcoming Supreme Court decision (expected by the end of June) on a regulation established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to limit benzene exposure levels in the workplace. The OSHA case involves similar issues to those posed by the CPSC proposed ban; the Supreme Court is reviewing a federal appeals court ruling which set aside OSHA's standard in October, 1978.

CPSC's proposal to limit benzene contamination levels to less than 0.1 per cent has met with strong reaction from industry, which considers the limitation too restrictive.

In a follow-up survey of 70 consumer products in 1979, CPSC staff was able to identify 63 products (90 per cent) which contained less than 0.1 per cent benzene. CPSC staff found seven other products (10 per cent) which showed contamination levels ranging between 0.1 per cent and .25 per cent. These products included stove and lantern fuels, brush cleaners, lacquer thinners and rubber cement. In each of these categories brands were identified, however, which contained benzene levels below 0.1 per cent.

CPSC staff believes that a variety of alternative solvents now are available to enable industry to comply with the limitations on contamination if they are approved by the Commission.