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Regulatory
Continued from p. 11
U.S. Labeling Deadlines Could
Have Serious Implications for
Agchem Product Distributors
By Diane Schute
Council of Producers &
Distributors of Agrotechnology
O
n Mar. 26, 2012, the U.S. Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) published a final
rule that amended its Hazard Communication Standard
(HCS) to conform to the Globally Harmonized System
for the Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS)
until Dec. 1, 2015 to distribute those
products. Unfortunately, these
non-pesticide agricultural chemical products are routinely distributed,
returned to the distributor or a distribution center, and redistributed multiple times before they are used.
Thus, they will remain in commerce for many years, and
certainly well beyond the Dec. 1, 2015 compliance date for
distributors.
Typically, these products are produced in limited
batches, on a seasonal basis, or once every two to three
years, and commonly cycle through sale, return, and resale events over several growing seasons that could span
a period of five years or longer. Moreover, it is common
practice for unused and unopened shipping contain-
“We’ve urged OSHA to adopt
‘released for shipment’ or a similar such
term that would ameliorate the need to re-label millions of individual agricultural chemical
products already in distribution.”
— Susan Ferenc
adopted by the United Nations. However, the new HCS
2012 harmonized labeling requirements for certain agricultural chemical products, such as tank-mix adjuvants
and plant nutrient blends, could require the manual
relabeling and repackaging of millions of end-use product containers and bags due to the unique way in which
these products are sold and resold in the marketplace. In
the absence of appropriate relief, workers at distributor
warehouse facilities could be subject to increased risks
that would far outweigh any health or safety benefits
from the new labeling requirements.
Under HCS 2012, product containers “leaving the
workplace” must bear the new labels no later than June 1,
2015. However, if a product is labeled by the manufacturer
in compliance with current requirements and shipped to
a distributor prior to June 1, 2015, distributors will have
ers and pallets to be returned to the distributor by the
purchaser or retail outlet after the growing season has
ended. These returned units are once again distributed,
intact, to purchasers the following year, and may be
returned – unused and unopened – at the end of yet the
next growing season.
Thus, in the fall of 2015, distributors of agricultural
chemical products are likely to be receiving returned shipping containers and pallets comprised of products that were
labeled and shipped by the manufacturer in 2015 or even
before then. Consequently, distributors will have warehouses full of returned product with labeling that does not
comply with HCS 2012.
In order to redistribute these products after Dec. 1, 2015
under the new rule, all end-use product containers will
need to be relabeled with HCS 2012-compliant labels, a
very costly and labor intensive endeavor that, where even feasible, would
have to be performed by warehouse employees by hand. This task would
involve the dismantling of shrink-wrapped pallets, the removal of sealed
cases of product from pallets, cutting or ripping open cases of product, removal of individually labeled containers from cases, and the replacement
of existing labels on individual containers with new labels.
This activity would destroy the integrity of the original shipping pallets
and containers. Very few, if any, distribution or warehouse facilities have
the sophisticated and automated equipment, personnel or space necessary
to conduct such a complex operation effectively. With the Dec. 1 deadline
fast approaching, unless some appropriate relief is granted, distributors
will be faced with the arduous task of dismantling pallets and shipping
containers, and relabeling, and repackaging millions of agricultural
chemical product containers and bags.
In response to this pending disaster, Council of Producers & Distributors of Agrotechnology (CPDA) members developed a possible solution
patterned after an approach taken by EPA when that agency was faced
with an almost identical situation. In 2008, EPA adopted the term “released for shipment” in an amendment of the 2006 labeling rule because
the term in the original rule, “distributed or sold,” would have prohibited
the sale or distribution of any product that did not bear the new compliant
label after a certain date. Thus, as written, it would have required the relabeling of hundreds of thousands of labeled pesticide containers already
in distribution or destroying those products. The term “released for shipment” refers to the date the product is packaged and labeled in the manner in which it will be distributed or sold. Individual product containers
fitted with compliant labels at the time they are “released for shipment”
are allowed to remain in commerce without relabeling until dissipated in
the marketplace. In making this revision, EPA recognized the benefits
that would accrue in terms of protecting worker safety and reducing
chemical exposure risks by not requiring the relabeling and repackaging
of products shipped before the compliance date.
CPDA President Dr. Susan A. Ferenc said, “We’ve urged OSHA to
adopt ‘released for shipment’ or a similar such term that would ameliorate
the need to re-label millions of individual agricultural chemical products
already in distribution. This type of approach would provide an appropriate measure of relief that takes into account how these products are manufactured, stored, distributed and redistributed in the agricultural marketplace over a period of time that could span many years. Most importantly,
warehouse and distribution center employees would not be needlessly
subjected to the potential risks they might encounter if required to relabel and repackage these products by hand.” •
Members of the Council of Producers & Distributors of Agrotechnology
(CPDA) produce, sell, and distribute tank-mix adjuvants, inert ingredients, and
other agrotechnology products throughout the United States.
March 2015
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