Labeling Commercially Packaged Chemicals

Chemicals and consumables normally arrive from the supplier in a suitable container, appropriately labelled. The information given on the packaging is the responsibility of the supplier and is legally required to conform to minimum requirements under packaging and labelling regulations. Typically, the label on a container for a commercially sold chemical will indicate the following ... 

Laboratory employees should familiarize themselves with the commercial labels on the chemical containers that they are using. The labels will reflect the information available to the manufacturer at the time the material was packaged. The information will not be as current as that provided by an up-to-date MSDS. These are revised as often as significant new information becomes available. However, in most cases the information for a specific chemical will change sufficiently slowly so that the information on the label may be used with considerable confidence. 

Market Development. As Defined in Wiley s Successful Commercial Chemical Development, edited by H. M. Corley, market development is that field of promotional effort between basic research and regular sales, by which existing or potential markets for new products and entirely new fields of utility for old products are developed and tested for profitable salability. Included m this function is joint development activity between the producer of the product and the potential user, the distribution of samples and sales literature, packaging, labeling and pricing, among other functions. 

Table 10.1 presents some inhibitors that have been used with success in typical corrosive environments to protect the metallic elements of industrial systems. Commercial inhibitors are available imder various trade names and labels that usually provide little or no information about their chemical composition. It is sometimes very difficult to distinguish between products from different sources because they may contain the same basic anticorrosion agent. Commercial formulations generally consist of one or more inhibitor compounds with other additives such as surfactants, film enhancers, de-emulsifiers, oxygen scavengers, and so forth. The inhibitor solvent package used can be critical in respect to the solubility/dispersibihty characteristics and hence the application and performance of the products. 

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