Volume 8, Number 1, Jan. 1986, pp.14-15

Technical Exchange

Gore-Tex Products

W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. (3 Blue Ball Road, P.O. Box 1130, Elkton, MD 21921, 800-638-9800) would like to familiarize the conservation community with a new product line of GORETEX(tm) barrier products which they believe will meet certain storage and transportation needs. The GORETEX is a barrier product which is described as being waterproof and breathable, pure, chemically inert, UV resistant, soft, flexible and lightweight.

Sales of Rhoplex Discontinued

Rohm and Haas Company has discontinued the sale of Rhoplex(R) acrylic medium to artists and art supply stores. Lois Shestack, a Rohm and Haas representative, stated that in the past they "filled requests from individual artists and art schools as a gesture of goodwill," although these small orders were not cost effective for Rohm and Haas. In the past, they also made the product available through art supply stores. This practice was recently discontinued apparently because of "inappropriate relabeling and trademark abuse." The cessation of the sale of Rhoplex medium to artists has led to several rumors about the product, including one that it contained lead. Rohm and Haas Company, however, has stated that there is no lead in any of its Rhoplex products. Ms. Shestack stated that Rohm and Haas products are chemicals sold only for use in formulated and/or fabricated products (such as acrylic paints) and are not for retail sale. She said that they are labeled for industrial use only and that relabeling to meet consumer regulations would be too costly. Due to the demand for acrylic medium, a representative from Pearl Paint Company, a chain of art supply stores, stated that they intend to buy the Rhoplex acrylic medium from Rohm and Haas and reformulate it under their own name for sale to artists.