FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Brian Sansoni, 202-662-2517 or bsansoni@cleaning101.com

A Decade of Success: SDA Report Summarizes Wealth of Environmental, Human Safety Information on Chemicals Used in Cleaning Products

• Meeting the Challenge Details SDA Consortia Commitments to Voluntary High Production Volume (HPV) Chemical Programs
• Data Produced Minimizes Need for Animal Testing

WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 30, 2008 – Ten consortia, 62 companies, 289 chemicals, 5900 data summaries. This brief description is shorthand for a decade-long, comprehensive effort by The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) to compile baseline datasets of the health and environmental effects of High Production Volume (HPV) chemicals used in cleaning products.

A report detailing the work of SDA's data-gathering, Meeting the Challenge: A Progress Report on SDA Commitments under Voluntary High Production Volume Chemical Programs, is now available on SDA's website, at www.cleaning101.com/environment.

SDA is a leading manager of chemical consortia fulfilling commitments to the voluntary global HPV chemical programs run by the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

"SDA's report demonstrates that we have gone beyond the basic requirement for disclosure of hazard datasets," said Dr. Paul DeLeo, SDA Director of Environmental Safety. "We have compiled information on chemical uses and exposures, prepared screening level risk assessments, and published research in peer-reviewed publications.

"The true value of all of this work will help our members prepare for the challenges of forthcoming chemical management programs, like REACH in Europe and the Montebello Agreement for North America." (The framework for the Montebello Agreement – a unified, North American, risk-based approach to chemicals management – was outlined by the leaders of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico in August of 2007.)

Although the efforts to compile hazard data on a global basis required additional time and resources, there has been only a very limited need for new testing in this work, the report finds.

"Through the global collaboration of producers and users of cleaning product chemicals, data submissions under the HPV programs demonstrate that a wealth of environmental and human safety information has been in existence for cleaning product ingredients – virtually eliminating any need for new testing and dispelling the perception that fundamental safety data were lacking on these materials," according to the report's executive summary.

"Only eight of approximately 5,900 study summaries were based on new testing – about 0.14 percent of the total number of studies. As a result, the going-in objective of minimizing the use of animal testing was achieved by broadly reaching out to companies in the U.S. and beyond that held relevant datasets."

The categories of chemicals studied by the SDA consortia include: Aliphatic acids, Aliphatic alcohols, Alkoxides, Alkyl sulfates, Amine oxides, Glycerides, Hydrotropes, Linear and Branched Alkylbenzene Sulfonic Acids and Derivatives (LAS/ABS), Methyl esters, and Triclocarban (TCC).

The public release of Meeting the Challenge was announced during SDA's Issues Briefing, held at the Association's 82nd Annual Meeting & Industry Convention in Boca Raton, Florida.

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The Soap and Detergent Association (www.cleaning101.com), the Home of the U.S. Cleaning Product and Oleochemical Industries®, is the non-profit trade association representing manufacturers of household, industrial, and institutional cleaning products, their ingredients and finished packaging; oleochemical producers; and chemical distributors to the cleaning product industry. SDA members produce more than 90 percent of the cleaning products marketed in the U.S. The SDA is located at 1500 K Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005.