We submitted an MSDS as proof of no urea-formaldehyde in a laminating adhesive and got this response from the reviewer:
An MSDS that does not list urea-fomaldehyde is not confirmation that the product contains no added urea-formaldehyde. MSD sheets vary widely in their contents and an assumption cannot be made based on the omission of information.
For future project submittals, note that an MSD sheet that includes information confirming credit compliance is an acceptable source of data.
The product manufacturer confirmed their product contain no UF and told us that UF would have to be listed on the MSDS if the product contained UF so we assumed the MSDS that did not list UF was acceptable documentation for this credit. The credit form lists MSDS an an acceptable form of compliance.
Anybody run into this before?
In our experience MSDS are more reliable than a cut sheet. We find misinformation on manufacturer cut sheets pretty regularly.
Abena Darden
Senior AssociateThornton Tomasetti
273 thumbs up
April 12, 2012 - 4:09 pm
Unfortunately, MSDS are increasingly suspect for various reasons, including the refusal to disclose chemical constituents that are purportedly "proprietary." (See recent article on this subject Jennifer Atlee) (http://www.buildinggreen.com/live/index.cfm/2012/2/29/A-Tale-of-Two-Mate...) In your case, unfortunately, the absence of a statement to the effect that there's no added UF, is not the same as an explicit printed claim that there is no added UF. I've done this many times: call the manufacturer and speak to the technical department (not sales or reps) and ask them to email you or send you a document attesting to the fact that there is no added UF in their laminating adhesive. When in doubt, go to the chemical engineers. Hope that helps.