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MSDS stands for "Material Safety Data Sheet". People often think that a MSDS sheet is an ingredients list. While it does disclose ingredients, this is not its purpose. Its purpose is to be an instruction sheet on how to safely handle the product. The MSDS gives information such as "What do I do if I accidentally eat it, or get it into my eyes, or inhale it?" Or, "What do I do if I accidentally spill it, or start a fire with it?" Or, "Do I need to wear rubber gloves to handle it, or a face mask?" An MSDS describes the hazards of working with the material in an occupational fashion. MSDS sheets are not meant for consumers ; no OSHA (U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration) nor FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulation requires that you transmit them to consumers . MSDS sheets are meant for workers who handle your products, employers of those workers and emergency personnel (such as firefighters). Therefore, let's say you make ...

In October, 2005, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed a law that requires any company selling a personal care product in California that contains any ingredient that's a human carcinogen or reproductive toxin to disclose that to the Department of Health Services starting in 2007. Personal care formulators don't like the law, because they feel it misleads consumers into thinking safe products are unsafe. For example, a product that is a potential carcinogen in powder form (because you inhale it) would not be in a liquid form (as in a shampoo or toothpaste). Yet, the company would still be required to disclose the fact that a potential carcinogen is in the liquid product. The reporting information will not be on the product label, but it will be available online. For now, you can do some research at the Skin Deep website, which was created by an environmental NGO (non-governmental organization). Here is the URL: http://www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep/ Advocates of the law counter this by say...