EPA Expands Safer Chemical Ingredients List
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has added more than 130 chemicals to its Safer Chemical Ingredients List, many of which are fragrances for commercial and consumer cleaning products.
The Safer Chemical Ingredients List was created in September 2012 as a resource for: manufacturers interested in making safer products; advocates seeking to encourage the manufacture and use of safer products; and consumers seeking to purchase or use safer products. It also serves as a guide for Design for the Environment-certified (DftE) products, which are products that meet EPA’s standards for protecting human health and the environment. DtfE-certified products significantly reduce exposure to chemicals harmful to users, their families, and the environment.
California’s EPA also maintains a chemical list for chemicals known to the State to cause cancer or reproductive harm. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) maintains this list in accordance with The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, commonly known as Proposition 65. Proposition 65 requires companies offering products for sale in California that contain carcinogens or reproductive toxicants to first provide consumers with a health hazard warning.
Taken together, the EPA’s Safer Chemical Ingredients List and the Proposition 65 chemical list allow consumers to make informed decisions in order to protect themselves, their families, and the environment.
The Chanler Group represents citizen enforcers who, acting in the public interest, commence actions against businesses offering products for sale in California that contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm without first providing the health hazard warning required by Proposition 65. Citizen enforcers bringing Proposition 65 actions in the public interest may obtain a Court Judgment imposing civil penalties, an injunction requiring reformulation of products, and/or provision of health hazard warnings. The Chanler Group has represented citizen enforcers of Proposition 65 for more than twenty years.