Effective October 25, 2002 the Consumer Product Safety Commission will require child-resistant packaging for certain products that contain low-viscosity hydrocarbons. The requirement applies to certain prepackaged nonemulsion-type liquid household chemical products, including drugs and cosmetics, that contain ten (10) percent or more hydrocarbons by weight and have a viscosity of less than one hundred (100) Saybolt Universal Seconds (SUS) at 100 degrees F (covered products). As stated in the final rule notice 16 CFR 1700, hydrocarbons are defined as compounds that consist solely of carbon and hydrogen.
For a product that contains multiple hydrocarbons, the total percentage of hydrocarbons in the product is the sum of the percentages by weight of the individual hydrocarbon components.
The Pollution Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA) in effect as of this date also requires child-resistant packaging for certain household products containing petroleum distillates. These PPPA-regulated products include prepackaged liquid kindling and illuminating preparations, prepackaged solvents for paint or other similar surface-coating materials (e.g., paint thinners), and nonemulsion liquid furniture polish. Several packaging types that would be exempted from the rules include: products packaged in aerosol cans, mechanical pumps or trigger sprayers, provided the aerosol, mechanical pump or trigger sprayer, expelled the product as a mist. For mechanical pumps and trigger sprayers, the spray mechanism would be required to be permanently attached to the bottle or have a CR attachment. However, if the mechanical pump or trigger sprayer expelled product as a stream, the entire package including the pump mechanism would have been required to be CR. Aerosol products that formed a stream by the addition of an extension tube inserted into the nozzle would have been excluded from the packaging requirements if without the extension tube, the product would be expelled as a mist.
To learn more if CPSC childproof cap regulations apply to you, go to the following website at http://www.cpsc.gov/BUSINFO/frnotices/fr02/hydrocarbon.html or call the Office of Compliance at (301) 504-0608.
