Resources

Principles for Chemical Ingredient Disclosure

Endorsed by over 100 business, government, health care, investor, and NGO leaders

June 28, 2021 Press Releases

Contacts:
Kayla Williams, Clean Production Action, kayla@cleanproduction.org, +1.781.391.6743 x120
Terri Goldberg, Interstate Chemicals Clearinghouse, tgoldberg@newmoa.org, +1.617.367.8558 x302
 

Principles for Chemical Ingredient Disclosure

Endorsed by over 100 business, government,

health care, investor, and NGO leaders

 
All stakeholders have a fundamental right to know the chemicals in products and the functions of those chemicals. Businesses, governments, investors, institutional purchasers, and consumers want a marketplace of products made from safe and healthy chemical ingredients. Yet across product life cycles interested parties struggle to even know the chemicals in the products they sell, purchase, recycle, or compost. The lack of chemical ingredient and hazard disclosure along supply chains is a significant barrier to innovation and the effective functioning of markets.
 
Committed to accelerating chemical transparency across supply chains to consumers, a coalition of over 100 businesses, governments, health care organizations, investors, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have come together and endorsed the Principles for Chemical Ingredient Disclosure. The six Principles were designed by a multi-stakeholder coalition over the last 18 months to frame the necessary steps for increasing access to information about chemicals in products and their hazards:
  • Disclose all intentionally added chemical ingredients.*
  • Disclose nonfunctional constituents (i.e., incidental components, breakdown products, and byproducts) that are identified on specified lists of chemicals of concern. This is a general principle to which Signatories agree, though they may hold differing positions on the thresholds for disclosure.
  • Proactively engage supply chains and interested stakeholders to increase full chemical ingredient information disclosure. Manufacturers and retailers need reliable documentation to trace chemical information along supply chains.
  • Advocate for filling data gaps to characterize the hazards of chemicals.
  • Make accurate chemical ingredient information easily accessible to consumers, government agencies, manufacturers, brands, retailers, and others in the supply chain.
  • Support public policies and industry standards that advance the above Principles.
*Endorsing organizations recognize the need to protect confidential business information (CBI) in limited situations when protection of the information is justified and substantiated. However, chemicals of concern, i.e., substances that are known or suspected hazards to human health or the environment, are not confidential business information.
 
Endorsers of the Principles seek to use these Principles to:
  • Drive avoidance of chemicals of concern;
  • Build trust among users and producers;
  • Use chemicals with the most comprehensive chemical hazard profiles; and
  • Work to reduce hazardous chemicals and their uses in products, across supply chains, and throughout product lifecycles.
 
See Principles in their entirety as well as the complete list of endorsing organizations. More information on the Principles, including Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).
 
We encourage organizations to endorse the Principles and look forward to the next 100 endorsers.
 
Join our webinar on the Principles on July 14, 2021 at 3:00-4:00pm US EDT.
 
Here is what endorsers are saying about the Principles:
 
“The requirement for chemical ingredient disclosure will increase as demand grows for a circular economy that aims to reuse and recycle products,” noted Mark Rossi of Clean Production Action (CPA) who co-led the initiative with the Interstate Chemicals Clearinghouse (IC2). “Yet we find hazardous chemicals being recirculated in children’s toys and cutlery made from recycled plastic – simply because recyclers did not know about the presence of these hazards. That is why we worked with stakeholders to produce these timely Principles for Chemical Ingredient Disclosure.”
 
“Access to chemical hazard information is often a problem for state and local government agencies tasked with protecting public health and the environment. A major challenge for governments at all levels is knowing all uses of chemicals in the class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which we are finding in drinking water, groundwater, and soil,” added Terri Goldberg of IC2. “There is growing pressure on governments to facilitate chemical ingredient disclosure, and the Principles provide a target for what a broad group of stakeholders aspire to and help everyone understand what we mean by ingredient transparency.”  
 
“Transparency is critical to advancing the move toward safer chemicals and products,” said Ken Zarker, Pollution Prevention Manager, Washington Department of Ecology. “When stakeholders can see the chemical ingredients in a product, they can make better informed choices based on any chemicals of concern being used, where safer alternatives are available, and where green chemistry innovation is needed.”
 
"The 'clean' beauty, food and household categories are growing rapidly: customers, brands and retailers want safer, more sustainable ingredients and products,” said Mia Davis, VP Sustainability & Impact, Credo Beauty. “But how can we be confident in our products if many chemical ingredients remain undisclosed? Credo Beauty is pushing our supply chain for full disclosure, but in order to truly protect public health and ensure authenticity, we need cross-industry agreement to fully disclose ingredients and contaminants."
 
"Seventh Generation has long advocated for consumers' right to know what is in the products they bring into their homes,” said Martin Wolf, Director, Sustainability & Authenticity, Seventh Generation. “Companies that commit to these Principles are taking an important step to fulfilling that fundamental right to know, and ensuring that brands such as Seventh Generation have the information needed to inform and protect our consumers." 
“Humanscale strongly supports the Principles for Chemical Ingredient Disclosure,” said Jane Abernethy, Chief Sustainability Officer, Humanscale. “We believe that our customers have the right to make an informed decision to choose healthier materials.”
 
“Access to chemical ingredient and hazard information can be a challenge for small- and medium-sized enterprises,” highlighted Barry Cik, Founder and Technical Director, Naturepedic. “But often first tier suppliers, who deal directly with their buying organizations themselves, lack chemical ingredient information up the supply chain. This problem is exactly why we need these Principles implemented expeditiously.”
 
“Transparency around the presence of toxic chemicals in our everyday, household products is essential to protect public health. When we, as consumers, know what’s in our products, we’re able to make more informed decisions around which products are better for our health and our families’,” noted Avinash Kar, Senior Attorney and Senior Director, Health & Food, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “Governments also need this information to provide appropriate oversight and ensure safer products.”

“Transparency is an essential criterion by which all businesses should build their enterprises as we seek to build a sustainable stakeholder economy. The Principles for Chemical Ingredient Disclosure provide the much-needed common framework to guide businesses,” said David Levine, Cofounder & President, American Sustainable Business Council. “Consumers have and will increasingly demand transparency and will reward companies that provide it, which creates a win for business and our economy.”
 
“Consumers care deeply about ingredient transparency,” said Janet Nudelman, Director, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, “and our ability to easily access information about the chemicals in the products we bring into our homes, and slather on our babies and our bodies, is what builds trust and brand loyalty with the companies that make and sell these products. Congratulations to Clean Production Action and the Interstate Chemicals Clearinghouse for articulating a clear and compelling roadmap toward ingredient disclosure that will benefit consumers and companies alike!”
 
“Chemical disclosure is essential for businesses working to reduce or eliminate toxic chemicals,” said Rachel Massey, Senior Associate Director and Senior Policy Analyst, Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute. “Businesses need to be able to obtain complete and accurate information from their suppliers so that they can make informed decisions about the chemicals they use and incorporate into their products.”
 
"Do you know all of the chemicals that are in your Shirt? Mug? Phone? Carpet? Probably not. Today, makers of only a very few products disclose the full contents of common materials. This is a problem for people throughout a product's life cycle - they simply don’t know what hidden chemicals are present. Lack of transparency has led, for example, to the composting of materials made with PFAS, the ‘forever’ chemicals,” said Bobbi Wilding, Executive Director of Clean and Healthy New York. "We urge manufacturers throughout the supply chain to act on these Principles immediately, and for other businesses and governments to apply these principles in their requirements."