The TPCH has received a grant from EPA for the cost of a portable Niton XRF Spectroscope to survey compliance with state packaging laws that ban the intentional addition of lead, cadmium, hexavalent chromium & mercury to packaging. The Spectroscope will be used to detect the presence of these metals found in packaging in states that have enacted the model legislation. TPCH members plan to conduct a wide-ranging sampling effort, & will ask those using glass packaging to demonstrate that any glass container in question would pass the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test as specified in the group's model legislation (CONEG). TPCH voted in Oct/04 to make permanent model provisions exempting glass & ceramic packaging from its model.The exemption was based on a review of ASTM's new C1606-04 Standard Test Method for Sampling Protocol. for TCLP Testing of Container Glassware which SGCD developed in cooperation with Ceram Research. To qualify for the model exemption, a glass or ceramic package producer must demonstrate that its ware would pass a TCLP test after preparing a sample for that test using the ASTM C1606-04 method. TCLP results must not exceed 1.0 ppm for cadmium, 5.0 ppm for lead, and 5.0 for hexavalent chromium. The exemption had been scheduled to expire on December 31, 2004. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) C21 Ceramic Whitewares and Related Products Committee voted in September 2004 to approve the C1606 test.
