EPA's 'Safer' Chemicals Label Under Fire From Industry, White House

The Environmental Protection Agency's 25-year-old program to highlight products made with "safer" alternative chemicals faces an uncertain future.

Chemical industry groups believe the EPA should add more criteria to its evaluation of products for the "Safer Choice" label, but advocacy groups suggested that taking those steps could jeopardize public trust in the program.

The debate, Bloomberg reports, is also playing out as the Trump administration's budget proposal calls for the elimination of funding for the program under the EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.

Companies seeking the voluntary "Safer Choice" label must demonstrate that their products are made with safer or more environmentally-friendly alternatives to other conventional chemicals.

The American Chemistry Council, which represents many of the world's largest chemical producers, argued last month that the label should be awarded based on risk assessments and exposure levels — and not simply because a chemical could present a hazard.

The group particularly took issue with a Tide detergent that did not qualify for the program even though it met recently added criteria for energy savings.

“How is a product like this that is going to reduce energy consumption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, not a safer choice for the environment?” ACC President Cal Dooley asked of Tide Coldwater detergent at a conference. 

Environmental and health groups, however, countered that although reducing emissions is a worthy goal, the Safer Choice program was designed specifically to address chemical risks.

They warned that additional criteria could make the program more complicated and susceptible to influence by the chemical industry — which could lead those groups to abandon their support.

“We could spend 10 years arguing about how much of a dangerous chemical is too much,” BlueGreen Alliance's Charlotte Brody told Bloomberg. “When we start arguing how much is too much we move away from good science and move to magic with numbers.”