The specimen

The two label tiers

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The upper tier The lower tier Which is a tier on release, not content Respiratory sensitization is the second hazard The words are specified at the upper tier Who writes the label Which is the classroom failure Label area is a real constraint on a small jar And the label has to survive the contents What we are not telling you References

"May Cause Cancer" is the statement, in those words, at the upper tier.

The upper tier

For a material releasing formaldehyde above 0.5 ppm, the label addresses the cancer and respiratory sensitization hazards and contains the statement "May Cause Cancer".

The lower tier

For a material releasing between 0.1 and 0.5 ppm, the label identifies that the product contains formaldehyde and states that "physical and health hazard information is readily available from the employer and from safety data sheets".

Which is a tier on release, not content

Two specimens in the same concentration of fixative can sit in different tiers depending on what they actually release, and that is a measurement rather than a calculation from the recipe.

Respiratory sensitization is the second hazard

Named alongside cancer at the upper tier. A sensitizer's important exposure is the later one, after a person has been primed, which is a different risk shape from a dose-response toxin.

The words are specified at the upper tier

"May Cause Cancer", in that form. This is one of the few places in this library where an exact phrase is required on a container, and it is not one to paraphrase.

Who writes the label

The manufacturer, importer or distributor under the hazard communication requirements, and the employer for workplace containers. A school transferring a specimen into another jar has become the labeler.

Which is the classroom failure

A specimen moved from a supplier jar into a classroom jar, with the original label left on the original jar. The new container is now unlabelled and the obligation did not move with the label.

Label area is a real constraint on a small jar

The cancer statement, the hazard addressing, the identity and the responsible party. On a 120 mL jar that is a real amount of text and a straight sided jar gives more usable panel than a shouldered one.

And the label has to survive the contents

Formalin wets everything it touches. A paper label on a jar that gets wiped down weekly lifts, and an unreadable hazard label is the same as no label.

What we are not telling you

Which tier your specimen is in. That is a measurement of what it releases, and nothing about a container choice answers it.

References

29 CFR 1910.1048(m). Paragraph (m)(1)(iv) applies the hazard communication requirements to "chemicals associated with formaldehyde gas, all mixtures or solutions composed of greater than 0.1 percent formaldehyde, and materials capable of releasing formaldehyde" at 0.1 ppm or above. Under (m)(2)(i), for a material releasing formaldehyde above 0.5 ppm the label addresses the cancer and respiratory sensitization hazards and contains the statement "May Cause Cancer". Under (m)(2)(ii), for a material releasing between 0.1 and 0.5 ppm the label identifies that the product contains formaldehyde and states that "physical and health hazard information is readily available from the employer and from safety data sheets". osha.gov

29 CFR 1910.1048. Paragraph (c)(1) requires that no employee be exposed above "0.75 parts formaldehyde per million parts of air (0.75 ppm) as an 8-hour TWA"; (c)(2) that none be exposed above "two parts formaldehyde per million parts of air (2 ppm) as a 15-minute STEL"; and paragraph (b) defines the action level as "a concentration of 0.5 part formaldehyde per million parts of air (0.5 ppm)" as an eight-hour time-weighted average. law.cornell.edu

Written from 29 CFR 1910.1048 and from the catalog as it stood on 18 October 2026. No autoclave cycle is quoted and no container is described as autoclavable, because our data does not record it. School district and state rules on classroom chemicals exist, vary, and are not summarized here.