New Report: Reducing Toxic Chemical Use Drives American Innovation, Boosts Economy

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John Rumpler

Clean Water Director and Senior Attorney, Environment America

John Rumpler

Clean Water Director and Senior Attorney, Environment America

Environment America

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today Environment America released Safer by Design: Businesses Can Replace Toxic Ingredients through Green Chemistry, a new report that highlights 14 businesses across the country that are innovating to cut toxic chemicals from their products, while creating green jobs and boosting the economy.

“Currently, these businesses are the exception and not the rule. But by harnessing American ingenuity, businesses can actually design their products and processes to be safer,” said Shelley Vinyard, Toxics Advocate for Environment America.

The report shows that businesses across the country are creating new technology to reduce their use of toxic chemicals, a process called green chemistry. SC Johnson, one of the companies highlighted in the report, used a tool called Greenlist to screen product ingredients for environmental attributes, to eliminate nearly 48 million pounds of toxic chemicals from its products since 2001. Specifically, Greenlist helped the company invent a less toxic formula for Windex that cleans 30 percent better, growing and capturing more of the market share for green cleaning products. 

Environment America called on Congress and the Administration to create policies to promote more businesses like SC Johnson. Specifically, they want to require that businesses study and share with the public and other businesses the health and environmental risks associated with chemicals they use; that businesses use safer alternatives and phase out the use of the most dangerous chemicals first; and that businesses using toxic chemicals in their products pay the total health and environmental cost of using those chemicals.

“More businesses like SC Johnson can reap the rewards of using fewer toxic chemicals,” said Vinyard. “With bold, new policies in place we can encourage business to turn to green chemistry to protect our health and environment while building the economy.”