Response attributed to Steven D. Bennett, Ph.D., Director of Scientific Affairs for the Consumer Specialty Products Association
The household and institutional products industry supports the consumer interest in wanting to learn more about the products they use to enhance and enrich their lives. We recognize the call for more transparency as it relates to consumer product ingredients; in fact, the Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) and its members have developed the Consumer Product Ingredient Communication Initiative, a proactive voluntary industry program that took effect on January 1, 2010. Through the Initiative, companies are now providing meaningful information on ingredients in a more consistent, easy-to-understand format that will help consumers make informed decisions about the products they use in and around their homes. Companies participating in the initiative have the options to list product ingredients on the product label, on the manufacturers’, distributors’, or importers’ website, via a toll-free telephone number, or through some other non-electronic means. In addition, the CSPA Consumer Product Ingredients Dictionary was developed to facilitate standardized ingredient nomenclature for use in our voluntary Ingredient Communication initiative. These are two important ways that CSPA and our members are providing information pertaining to the ingredients used in consumer products.
Regarding consumer products represented by our industry, we question the claims made in the National Institute of Environmental Health Science’s report, “Endocrine Disruptors and Asthma-Associated Chemicals in Consumer Products.” The products we represent were a very small part of the samples used in the research. Even more problematic is the fact that the sample design combined all of the samples within a particular product category and analyzed them in the aggregate. This significantly limits the utility of the result by blurring any differences in formulation of products and preventing any comparison to other products or alternatives. This flaw is noted in the report.
It is unfortunate and misleading that the title of this report implies that there is a well-defined link between consumer products and endocrine disruption and asthma when the study of this issue continues and scientific questions remain unresolved. What we are certain of is that the reasons behind endocrine disruption and asthma are complex. We also know that responsible manufacturers ensure their products go through comprehensive, extensive risk assessments, and also review scientific developments and monitor product use data that may affect the safety assessment process. An incredible amount of research and development goes on before these products ever hit the shelves, not to mention that the products must meet federal and state quality and safety regulations.