Yesterday, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) made a series of announcements related to the Safer Consumer Products program. DTSC is extending the comments period for the Safer Consumer Products draft Priority Products Work Plan, and will now accept comments on the draft Plan until October 21.

DTSC also announced that its Candidate Chemicals database and downloadable list have been updated. The update reflects changes made in authoritative lists, such as the IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) carcinogens monographs.

In addition, DTSC invites the public to attend the next meeting of the Green Ribbon Science Panel. The Panel will convene on October 20-21 in Sacramento to “discuss and advise DTSC on evaluating Product Categories identified” in the draft Work Plan as well as alternative analysis topics. DTSC has posted the meeting’s agenda [PDF] and supporting documents including discussion topics for the draft Plan [PDF] and an Alternatives Analysis Guidance Document Synopsis [PDF].

California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) announced earlier this month that it has rescheduled two workshops to discuss the draft Priority Products Work Plan under the state’s Safer Consumer Products (SCP) program.  The Work Plan workshops, originally scheduled for August, have been postponed until September, although specific dates have not yet been announced. According to DTSC’s email announcement, the workshops will provide “an overview of the Work Plan and will explain the process by which future Priority Products will be chosen from the product categories.” DTSC also stressed that the Work Plan would not apply requirements on any regulated entities but instead “is only intended to provide signals to the marketplace regarding the scope of product categories that will be under evaluation over the next three years.”

Chemical Watch reports that the agency is using the extra time to “refine” the categories of products and substances to be prioritized for review, including “incorporating corporate feedback to fill data gaps.” This effort may be to avoid the controversy and criticism DTSC received after choosing spray polyurethane foam containing unreacted diisocyanates as one of the first products to be regulated under the SCP program.

Yesterday, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) held the second of three public workshops on its initial Priority Products in Oakland. These workshops are being held to elicit feedback from stakeholders before the start of the formal rulemaking process, which is anticipated to begin in late June.

In his introductory presentation, DTSC Branch Chief of the Safer Consumer Products (SCP) program Karl Palmer explained that only three (instead of the possible five) Priority Products were initially chosen because the agency wanted to be deliberate, slow, accurate, and effective in rolling out the new SCP program. Palmer also noted that the agency was developing a new data system that may be available as soon as August, which would manage confidential business information (CBI) in submissions to the agency as well as rulemaking processes.

Agency staff explained various refinements that have been made since the first public workshop, focusing on revisions to the Priority Product profiles. Responding to industry comments, the profiles now contain a second-page “disclaimer” explaining that the profiles are non-regulatory documents showing a “snapshot in time” of the agency’s thinking, and are not meant to assert that certain products cannot be used safely, or to endorse alternatives. At the workshop, various commenters from the chemical industry continued to push back that the profile for Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF) Systems contained inaccurate information and should require a more explicit disclaimer.

In addition to the profiles, product definitions have been revised on the program’s draft regulatory concepts [PDF]. Agency staff noted that, as shown in this document with strikeouts, the SPF definition was narrowed to focus only on applying unreacted diisocyanates to produce rigid foam. The regulatory concepts draft also updates the definition of paint strippers containing methylene chloride from the one contained in the Priority Product profile, now removing reference to surface cleaners, which are already barred from containing methylene chloride under the California Air Resources Board (CARB) General Consumer Products Regulation.

A general theme repeated throughout the workshop was that DTSC was eager to accept information from stakeholders, especially quantitative data on the products’ markets and supply chains, and the availability or viability of alternative products.

The third public workshop will take place on June 4 in Los Angeles. More information, including how to register to attend or file comments, is available on the Safer Consumer Products Workshops page. That page also links to various new documents, including presentations from the workshops. DTSC continues to accept comments on the Priority Products before rulemaking begins, through June 30.

Looking ahead, DTSC will release a three-year Work Plan and hold a public workshop on it in the late summer. The Work Plan, which should be finalized by October 1, 2014, will identify product categories the agency plans to consider next. Draft guidance on alternatives assessments, including input from the Green Ribbon Science Panel, is expected by the end of the year.

 

This morning, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) revealed its highly anticipated draft list [PDF] of Priority Products, a key step in rolling out agency’s new Safer Consumer Products (SCP) regulations.

As expected, the draft list is composed of three products. The products are:

• Children’s foam padded sleep products containing TDCPP (chlorinated TRIS);
• Spray Polyurethane Foam (SPF) systems containing unreacted diisocyanates; and
• Paint and varnish strippers and surface cleaners containing methylene chloride.

The agency chose these products because they are widely used and contain at least one Candidate Chemical that has the potential to cause serious harm to human health or the environment. According to DTSC, all three of the products are known to cause serious health effects in humans, including cancer, severe asthma, and neurotoxicity. People who are at risk from these products include children and daycare workers in the case of foam sleeping products, and independent contractors, workers, and Do-It-Yourselfers in the case of SPF systems and paint strippers. Alternatives in the marketplace exist for children’s sleeping products and paint/varnish strippers and surface cleaners; however, DTSC officials said they were not aware of any spray-application alternatives for SPFs, which will present “a challenge for manufacturers.”

DTSC’s action today does not ban the products; rather, it starts an extended process that will include formal rulemaking procedures for the finalization of the Priority Products list, which may take up to a year. Next steps include DTSC’s quarterly public meeting on March 17; public workshops on the selection of the draft Priority Products, expected to be held in May and June; and a Work Plan to be released in October. After the final Priority Products list is finalized, manufacturers and sellers of Priority Products must notify DTSC that they are a “responsible entity,” and then submit a preliminary Alternatives Analysis (AA) report for state approval. A final AA report must be submitted a year later, after which DTSC will determine its regulatory response, which may range from requiring further research to imposing an outright ban on sales in California.

Moreover, DTSC intends that the SCP program will spur manufacturers and retailers to proactively reformulate products containing Candidate Chemicals. DTSC director Debbie Raphael emphasized that the measure of the success of the program would be the ability and willingness of product manufacturers to answer the question, “Is it necessary to use this chemical?” before the agency names a particular chemical-product combination.

For more information, see DTSC’s FAQ on the draft Priority Products [PDF] and press release [PDF].