BETHESDA, MD – The Adhesive and Sealant Council (ASC) has raised concerns with the California Department of Toxic Substance Control’s (DTSC) “Safer Consumer Products” proposed regulation, saying that it could lead companies to leave California markets or relocate manufacturing facilities to other states.

The proposed regulatory activity results from the 2008 California Green Chemistry Initiative (A.B 1879), which was designed to address the reduction or elimination of adverse public health and environmental impacts from hazardous chemicals in consumer products.

In written comments to the DTSC, the council questioned some of the detailed trade secret information that the new proposal could require and charged that the agency seemed to be setting itself up in a role to judge one company’s innovative approach against another’s.

The council also questioned the establishment of an initial list of 1,200 chemicals that would be characterized as “chemicals of concern.” In its comments, it noted that because of the expansiveness of the list, many of those listed would not be subject to DTSC review for a number of years. Yet in the interim, a wide range of formulated products containing these chemicals would be implicated as hazardous simply because of the appearance on this list.