Safer Consumer Products Summit Recap
Improved utility of data, transparent supply chains, and transformative innovation were just some of the topics discussed by regulators, researchers, and industry at the 3rd Safer Consumer Products Summit: National Policy Outlook held in Washington, D.C. this week. Summit Chair Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, B&C, opened the main summit by noting the dramatic shift in environmental law from the regulation of discharges of chemical substances into the environment (and their subsequent cleanup) to a more proactive focus on the regulation of chemicals in products — especially consumer products. She then walked the room through the current efforts at TSCA reform, most notably CSIA and gave her insider's analysis of what to expect from Capitol Hill regarding CSIA.
Keynote speaker Jim Jones, Assistant Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), highlighted the great strides the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made in increasing access to data, especially with the debut last week of the ChemView searchable database and the positive impact programs such as Design for the Environment and the Green Chemistry Awards have in stimulating the safer chemical market.
In a luncheon keynote, sponsored by BRAG, the "father of green chemistry" Dr. Paul Anastas, Director of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale, exhorted the gathered companies, researchers, and non-governmental organizations (NGO) to set a goal of transformative innovation rather than incremental improvements: instead of just looking for safer dyes, develop fiber plants that grow in colors; rather than making a small improvement in paint and waterproofing formulations, mimic the action of waterproof plants to achieve the goal.
A panel discussion with safer product groups and brands, moderated by BRAG's Executive Director Kathleen M. Roberts, included spirited exchanges on the perceived value of "green" to consumers, the need for extreme transparency of ingredients throughout the supply chain, and the question of whether NGOs can engage in recognizing and encouraging good corporate actions in addition to their focus on thwarting the bad. Ms. Roberts made the point that BRAG is actively engaged in helping to level the regulatory playing field between petroleum-based products and their greener alternative biobased products.
See BRAG's twitter feed for a running account of salient points from the summit, twitter.com/biobasedpolicy, and contact Chad.Howlin@lawbc.com for copies of the presentations.