AEROSOL SPRAYS Safety call in U.S.

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33878, 25 June 1975, Page 15

AEROSOL SPRAYS Safety call in U.S.

(N Z. A..n-Cop»rt fl ht. I WASHINGTON. June 24 The Consumer Produc Safety Commission ii America has decided again-, banning or restricting the us. of aerosol spravs, despit, allegations that they nose < {potential hazard to persona health and the atmosphere. Instead, officials s.iv, th< (Commission will order th* (the aerosol industry to pro Sduce a plan to make tin (valves on the cans safer. an< jto prevent them from bein, snrayed in the wrong direc Ition. i The commission has befon lit several petitions, om tinder study for as long a* itwo years asking for actiot against aerosol sprays fot {reasons ranging from riski to the user’s lunes to pos Isihle decay of the earth’* protective ozone layer frotr the propellant gases used One of the petitions, frorr (the Centre for Science in th« 'Public Interest. seeks r general warning against j aerosol products for health reasons. The group argues that the three thousand million cans of such product* Isold in the United State* {every year nose problems be [spraying fine amounts ol [chemicals into the air, (especially in confined spaces I such as bathrooms. The Natural Resources Defence Council has asked for a total ban on aerosol products containing fluorocarbon gases, principally freon, because of the possibility that the ozone layer is being depleted bv them. A Government task force recently reported that the ozone problem was a subject for real [concern, adding that a thinning of the layer could cause (increases in ultra-violet 'radiation from the sun and [more cases of skin cancer.