Hazardous chemicals which are restricted or banned as pesticides can legally be used in chemically impregnated manufactured household goods, such as carpets, duvet covers, pillows, ‘antibacterial’ shoe soles, and T-shirts. Suppliers of these products have no obligation to provide consumers, or retailers, with Material Safety Data Sheets. They do not even have to provide the name of the chemical active ingredient they have used on the label.
For example, if your duvet label says Ultra Fresh, or simply anti-bacterial, it may contain Tributyl tin, banned from small boats in 1986 and all domestic and timber treatment in 1990.
Better protection, and consumer information, is in the pipeline, but will not be legally enforceable for years. All existing biocides, which are any (non-agricultural) chemicals which kill organisms, not controlled under pesticide, or other, legislation, are being reviewed under new European Union Biocidal Products Directive. Once registered, the names of the active ingredients may have to appear on the product label. However, this massive review is not scheduled for completion until 2010.
Until then, these household items can still be marketed under national laws. The Health & Safety Executive is responsible for enforcing their supply and use in commercial/professional contexts. Local Authority Trading Standards Officers are responsible for enforcing their supply from retail outlets, and use by the public. Under the General Product Safety Regulations, 1994, consumers have a right to sue if their health is damaged by these chemicals, but a successful outcome is extremely unlikely. We currently have no right to information in advance about impregnated household goods, or to be told if they contain chemicals which have been assessed as hazardous under different regulations.
The Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging Regulations) 1994 (‘CHIP’) applies to ‘dangerous chemicals’ such as those which may be used in DIY. They only cover chemicals (sold, for example, in bottles or cans, or supplied in tankers or pipelines, or as separate components in household items) and do not currently cover pesticides, medicines and cosmetics. Once chemicals are impregnated into manufactured household goods they are no longer covered by CHIP.
Even under CHIP (which does not cover pesticides), retailers do not have to supply safety data sheets to the general public (although they must be supplied to professional users). Instead, we are only entitled to what the HSE refers to as ‘equivalent information’. This is usually extremely brief, as it may appear on the product label or packaging, and may not even include the name of the active ingredient.
PEX RECOMMENDS: Don’t buy any product labelled: antibacterial, biocidal, fungicidal, or miticidal (anti-mite) unless the names of the active ingredients are also given. Products labelled ‘Ultrafresh’ may contain Tributyl tin. Products labelled ‘Permafresh’ may contain permethrin.
Research by Margaret Reichlin
[Published in PEX Newsletter No.12, September 2001]