This paper details how businesses and environmental organizations are collaborating to define and implement a visionary agenda for integrating safer chemicals into products, describing the challenges they confront and how they are overcoming those challenges. The framework for this assessment is the Principles for Chemicals Policy developed by the Business-NGO Working Group for Safer Chemicals and Sustainable Materials (BizNGO). The four principles--1) knowing and disclosing chemicals in products, 2) assessing and avoiding hazards, 3) committing to continuous improvement, and 4) supporting public policies and industry standards--while appearing to be straightforward, are, in fact, very complex to implement in practice. Together businesses and environmental organizations are charting a path to safer chemicals by sharing best practices, addressing technical aspects of safer chemicals substitution, and analyzing and supporting public policies that advance the rapid development and diffusion of greener chemicals in the economy.
Currently, chemical regulations in the United States do not prioritize the production and use of inherently safe chemicals. At present, when regulations get passed to target a chemical for control, safer substitutes are not the goal nor are there specific guidelines or tools used to achieve Green Chemistry, Clean Production, or sustainable product design. In most cases, the replacement is often just as hazardous or simply a reduction of the quantity or concentration of the toxic substance that has been targeted. In contrast, by placing the Substitution Principle at the heart of new chemical policies and regulations, hazardous chemicals would be replaced with less hazardous alternatives or preferably alternatives for which no hazards can be identified. This would hasten the uptake of Green Chemistry, or environmentally benign chemical synthesis. Substituting hazardous chemicals goes beyond finding a drop-in chemical alternative and can include systems, materials or process changes. Regulatory drivers include a clear timeline for phase out of priority chemicals based on their inherent hazard, mandatory substitution planning for hazardous chemicals, financial and technical support for companies to find safer materials, and increased funding for green chemistry development and uptake by companies.
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