where they have had to stop sales on products that were being used inappropriately. Further, this approach is tied to the company’s business strategy because it hurts the business to have to pull products off the market or re-qualify to win a customer’s business. There are times when a customer may need information about a chemical mixture or product beyond what is typically provided to customers by chemical producers. If the desired information is proprietary or pertains to material formulae, chemical producers have different ways of dealing with such requests. Some will provide the requested information to the customer, provided that the customer signs a nondisclosure agreement, NDA. The producers said that this gives them some assurance that the customer will not simply provide the proprietary information to another producer and ask them to make the chemical product for a lower price. Others interviewees, however, said that they will not reveal the complete details of their formulations, but do share all risk information with customers. This approach can involve revealing most of the high-exposure or high-proportion chemicals, but describing the minority chemicals in generic terms. Producers gave several examples of the “pull” type of information that is available to anyone who wants it and can find it. One example is the safety summaries provided through the GPS, which is written in language that is accessible to the layperson and reflect the information that the chemical producers consider to be “all relevant information on a chemical or a product.” Safety summaries include information such as chemical identity; common and acceptable uses of a chemical or product; benefits of a chemical in specific applications; strength, resistance, and insulation properties; toxicity; transport, storage, and handling recommendations; recyclability; and levels of exposure expected in different applications. These summaries are more general than the specific, detailed documents provided to customers. Currently, the safety summaries are available only in English, but the goal is to eventually provide them in all languages. Interviewees also described “product finder” types of databases, which are also freely available on company websites and provide information about chemical properties and acceptable uses of chemicals and chemical products. Material Safety Data Sheets, MSDS, are another main tool that producers of chemicals and chemical products use to communicate information about their products to customers and the public. MSDS can contain information about acceptable uses, toxicity, handling and storage, and physical properties. MSDS come in PDF or hardcopy, and are made available by chemical producers in every one of their customers’ languages. They are provided to customers with purchased chemical products and are freely available to the public on some producers’ websites. There were dramatically differing opinions among producers and downstream users about the value of MSDS to stakeholders in the value chain. One chemicals producer said that MSDS are generally useful in
Information on Chemicals in Electronic Products
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