EPA Offers ‘Safer Choice’ Logos

Most consumers do not have a deep understanding of the types of chemicals that make up the cleaning products they buy. Instead, they simply trust the labels on the containers to assure them that these ingredients will not adversely affect their health.

While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is tasked with regulating hazardous chemicals, current law only allows the agency to do so much. The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 went virtually unchanged for 40 years before President Obama signed the Chemical Safety Improvement Act in 2016. Even then, it will take time for the EPA to test and regulate the thousands of chemicals grandfathered in under the old law over the years.

Chemical manufacturers can submit their products to a more rigorous review.

In the meantime, the EPA is giving companies a chance to do more. It runs a voluntary program whereby chemical manufacturers can submit their products to a more rigorous review, earning a Safer Choice logo if they are approved. 

“We realized was that if we put a simple label on a product that people can see – we put that on a product that is safer, it’s a safer choice for household products – that people will respond to that, that consumers will regulate with their dollars,” Gina McCarthy, the top administrator at the EPA, told Connecticut Public Radio. 

If you want to signal to your customers that your product is a safe alternative to more harmful chemicals, you’ll want to make sure that your label stands out and is easy to read. Durafast offers a number of different printing solutions to help you develop the labels you need for your branding efforts. Contact us today for more information!