15 U.S.C. § 1277 — Labeling of art materials

(a) Starting after the 2-year period beginning November 18, 1988, the art-material labeling requirements in the version of American Society for Testing and Materials standard D–4236 in effect on November 18, 1988, as changed by subsection (b), are treated as a Commission regulation issued under section 1262(b). (b) The following rules apply to that standard. (1) “Art material or art material product” means any substance that its producer or repackager markets or represents as suitable for creating visual or graphic art in any medium. It does not include economic poisons covered by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, or drugs, devices, or cosmetics covered by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act. (2) The standard applies to art materials intended for users of any age. (3) Each producer or repackager must put in writing the criteria used to decide whether an art material could cause chronic harmful health effects. Each must send the Commission those criteria and a list of materials that need hazard-warning labels under this section. (4) If the Commission asks, the producer or repackager must send product formulas and the criteria used to decide whether the material or its ingredients could cause chronic harmful health effects. (5) Every material requiring a chronic-hazard label must list the producer’s or repackager’s name, address, and suitable telephone number, and must say that the material is not suitable for children. (6) If a producer or repackager learns important new information about a material’s hazards or how to protect against them, the producer or repackager must add it to labels for materials made more than 12 months after the information was discovered. A reformulated material must be evaluated and labeled under the modified standard. (7) If the Commission finds that a material in a container of no more than 1 fluid ounce (30 ml) when sold by volume, or 1 ounce net weight (28 g) when sold by weight, could cause chronic harmful health effects with customary or reasonably foreseeable use, it may require the small container to carry all information required for a larger container. If that information will not fit, the Commission must require a package insert containing it. The product label then must include the standard’s paragraph-5 signal word, a list of potentially harmful or sensitizing components, and the words “see package insert before use”. “Package insert” means written, printed, or graphic material on a leaflet or suitable material accompanying the art material. This requirement adds to, and does not replace, paragraph 5.8 of D–4236. (8) When deciding whether a material could cause chronic harmful health effects, including cancer or possible cancer, a toxicologist must consider the views of regulatory agencies and scientific bodies. (c) If the Commission decides a revision proposed by the American Society for Testing and Materials serves the public interest, it must add the revision to the modified standard after notice and an opportunity for comment. If the modified standard is ever inadequate to protect the public interest, the Commission must issue an adequate amendment. The final standard must be issued under section 553 of title 5, except that interested people must have a chance to present data, views, or arguments orally as well as in writing. A transcript must be kept of every oral presentation. (d) (1) Within 1 year after November 18, 1988, the Commission must issue guidelines stating how to decide when customary or reasonably foreseeable use can cause a chronic hazard. It must hold a public hearing and allow a reasonable chance to submit comments while developing the guidelines. (2) The guidelines must include (A) criteria for chronic harmful effects in children and in adults; (B) criteria for identifying substances in art materials that could cause those effects and identifying the effects; (C) criteria for deciding how much of a chronically hazardous substance becomes available to the body when the product is used customarily or in a reasonably foreseeable way; and (D) criteria for acceptable daily intake levels for chronically hazardous substances. When appropriate, the child-risk criteria may be the same as the adult criteria. (3) The Commission must periodically review the guidelines for relevant changes in scientific knowledge and art-material formulas and amend them to reflect those changes. (e) The Commission must create and distribute informational and educational materials about art materials to interested people. (f) The Commission may sue under section 1267 to stop the purchase of any art material that this chapter requires to be labeled when the material is for children in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, or grades 1 through 6.