FocusNew rules challenge US cleaning industry

31 January 2008 22:16  [Source: ICIS news]

By Doris de Guzman

BOCA RATON, Florida (ICIS news)--New proposed legislation and regulatory issues will challenge the US cleaning products market this year, an official from the Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) said on Thursday.

"Very clearly, state legislatures and governments are pushing more restrictive regulatory regimes on chemicals in consumer products. Fortunately, SDA's science-based advocacy and outreach leaves us well-positioned to address these issues head on," Brian Sansoni, vice president of SDA's communication and membership, told ICIS news.

In California, the SB509 legislation introduced last year in May requires listing of ingredients in concentrations greater than 0.1% on consumer products manufacturers’ websites. The California bill pass out of the Senate this week and is now heading to the Assembly for further consideration, Sansoni said.

The cleaning industry is also bracing for California’s new Green Chemistry initiative, a comprehensive chemicals management policy currently being developed and said to be bigger, bolder and possibly even better than Europe's Reach.

“California is still a hotbed of activity for us and we are subsequently engaged in discussions on legislations affecting ingredient communication and potential regulations under the umbrella of green chemistry,” said SDA president and CEO Ernie Rosenberg at the SDA Issues Briefing on Wednesday.

“Some of our science-based approach and advocacy have paid off such as in delaying considerations of the proposed rules that will require the costly reformulation of fabric softeners,” he added.

Programs for environmentally preferred products (EPP) are also proliferating in the state and federal levels, noted Richard Sedlak, SDA’s senior vice president of technical and international affairs.

In the federal level, Sedlak noted examples such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Design for the Environment program, the US Department of Agriculture’s preferred procurement of biobased products, new green strategies from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and potential new guidance from the Federal Trade Commission for environmental marketing claims.

Some of the programs in the state level include New York’s use of Green Seal standards, and third party programs such as Cleangredients, an online database of institutional and industrial cleaning product ingredient chemicals that provides verified information about their environmental and human health attributes.

“EPP is becoming an umbrella issue for a number of once separate issues such as asthma, carcinogenicity, indoor air quality, and bias against synthetic chemicals,” said Sedlak.

“We need to be consistent with our message across all of these programs through continued emphasis on improving the attributes of our products; and communicating our risk- and science-based advocacy,” he said.

Rosenberg also noted other emerging issues such as nanotechnology, biomonitoring and microconstituents, being monitored via SDA’s relationships with other associations such as the American Chemistry Council (ACC), Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA), and Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) formerly called the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association.

The 5-day SDA meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, ends on Saturday.

By: Doris de Guzman
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