Removing toxic chemicals from consumer products

This news update on removing toxic chemicals from consumer products is brought to you by the Center for Effective Government.

 

 

With the increased focus on removing toxic chemicals from consumer products, it’s logical to assume that alternative chemicals used in these products will be substantially less dangerous to our health and the environment. Unfortunately, due to the lack of safety information for the vast majority of chemicals currently used in manufacturing, these substitutes may not be any safer than the chemicals they replace.

 

To provide information on potentially less toxic chemicals that can be substituted in manufacturing products, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the Design for the Environment (DfE) program. The program now provides companies and the public with a list of 650 “safer” chemicals.

 

Thanks to the program, the health problems associated with chemicals like BPS should come as no surprise to companies seeking to use it as a substitute for BPA. Results from a January 2014 DfE analysisof a variety of potential BPA substitutes in receipt paper found that BPS presented a “moderate hazard” for developmental, reproductive, neurological, and cancer effects, as well as a “high hazard” for repeated exposures. In fact, BPS presented a higher risk of damaging genes, a possible precursor to cancer and other health problems, than BPA.

 

 

For more information on removing toxic chemicals from consumer products, please visit the Center for Effective Government link above.  Please contact Nexreg for MSDS Services.