Nearly 50 chemicals added to EPA’s Safer Chemical Ingredients List.

EPA Assistant Administrator Jim Jones took to the agency’s blog today to promote new additions to the Safer Chemical Ingredients List (SCIL), part of EPA’s Design for Environment (DfE) program. EPA has just added nearly 50 chemicals – including 40 fragrances – to the SCIL, which now totals 650 “safer” chemicals. SCIL chemicals are evaluated by third-party profilers to determine whether they meet the program’s protective criteria across a broad range of potential toxicological effects, ranging from carcinogens to asthmagens to chemicals on authoritative lists of chemicals of concern.

DfE is a voluntary labeling program which currently recognizes 2,500 products, such as household cleaners and firefighting foam, for high performance, cost effectiveness, and use of the safest chemical ingredients. The SCIL component of the DfE program is arranged by functional use class and is aimed at helping product manufacturers identify safer chemical ingredients, formulate safer products, and make it easier for products to earn the DfE label.