On January 8, the IC2 released the IC2 Alternatives Assessment Guide. The IC2 collaborated with businesses and non-governmental organizations on the development of the Guide, which is the product of 20 months of effort.

 

An alternatives assessment (AA) is a set of tools that manufacturers, product designers, businesses, governments, and other interested parties can use to make better, more informed decisions about the use of toxic chemicals in their products or processes. The IC2 understands the benefits of consistency in alternatives assessments but recognizes that one approach will not work in all situations. The Guide was designed to be very comprehensive and includes three ways in which an AA can be conducted.

 

Along with the Guide, the IC2 released two Response-to-Comment (RTC) documents. The summary RTC document  groups comments received and documents how the Guide was either updated or not altered based upon input received. The detailed RTC document contains a response to each individual comment.

 

During 2014, the IC2 plans to hold webinars to provide training on the Guide and highlight examples of how it is being used, with a focus on capacity-building support for AA and guidance by state programs.

 

To support AA, the IC2 will continue to post GreenScreen™ and QCAT assessments and develop strategies to add more of them to the Chemical Hazard Assessment Database. The Database presently includes 17 GreenScreen and one QCAT assessments. 

IC2 welcomes Topher Buck as its new Project Manager. Adam Wienert, the former IC2 Project Manager resigned last November so that he could spend more time with his two young daughters. We greatly appreciate all of Adam's work for IC2 and wish him well.

 

We are very excited to have Topher join us. He has an impressive background in work on ingredient disclosure and alternatives assessment. Most recently, he worked for a small Cambridge (MA) start-up. From 2006 through 2011, Topher worked for GreenBlue, directing their Chemicals Program and CleanGredients� project. CleanGredients is an online database of ingredient chemicals for cleaning products, each profiled according to relevant human and environmental health hazard characteristics that provide formulators with information to make informed chemical substitution choices.

 

He worked as a consultant to EPA and other agencies on variety of environmental projects and a number of other groups prior to his time at GreenBlue. He was a Ph.D. student in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley for several years; has a Master of Forest Science Degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; and has a Bachelor's degree in chemistry and religious studies from Wesleyan University.

 

Topher is working full time for the IC2, managing various online database and information projects, alternatives assessment initiatives, the cleaning product ingredient disclosure effort with New York State, and initiatives to develop a multi-state approach to product disclosure and product testing.

Since the last E-Bulletin, we have added more than 100 new records covering 2013 to the State Chemicals Policy Database. Although most of the work to add new records takes place during the summer months, we continue to make minor updates throughout the year.

On October 16, 2013, the IC2 held a meeting on Chemical Use Disclosure at Staples Headquarters in Framingham, MA. The meeting provided an opportunity for Members and Supporting Members of the Clearinghouse to hear from members of the BizNGO Working Group, the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council (GC3), and others about growing efforts to increase transparency concerning chemical ingredients in products. Agenda topics included:

• A presentation on the Washington Department of Ecology (WA DoE) system for sharing data on the use of high priority chemicals in children's products
• An update on the status of New York State's efforts on disclosure of chemical ingredients of cleaning products
• A presentation on the Interstate Mercury Education and Reduction Clearinghouse (IMERC) system for reporting on mercury use in products
• Discussion and recommendations for the future

 

Much of the time was devoted to discussion of ideas and recommendations for improving the current availability of information. Some of the brainstormed ideas for IC2's next steps include:

• Define and clarify the "users" of ingredient disclosure data, what they want to see, and the data that is most useful to them
• Take some of the analyses of the WA DoE data and frame the results in a variety of formats for different end users
• Find ways to get the WA DoE data analysis to the business community and demonstrate how it can and is being used 
• Work to harmonize data systems as much as possible and rely on the experiences of other programs that have already addressed similar issues
• Identify gaps in disclosure to better inform what the state programs should be asking for
• Identify the types of data needed to answer proposed user scenarios
• Focus on the fragrance industry to better understand the data that is available and confidentiality issues
• Develop data field definitions to harmonize across different programs
• Further define "functional use", including the end uses of chemical ingredient information
• Examine international efforts and harmonize with the U.N, Environment Program's (UNEP) Chemicals in Products efforts
• Engage industry to find out what data are they interested in and how will they use it
• Develop a framework and proposal for state level harmonized chemicals in products projects

Topher will be facilitating the IC2 Database Workgroup's effort to implement some of these ideas in the coming year.

In this issue

The IC2 invites businesses, non-governmental organizations, academic researchers, consultants, and others to join the Clearinghouse. Supporting Members sign a Memorandum of Agreement demonstrating support for the principles of the Clearinghouse and provide annual dues to help fund baseline activities. All IC2 Supporting Members are eligible to participate in the IC2 Council and in IC2 Workgroups.  

For more information, contact Topher Buck, (617) 367-8558 x309.

Since the last E-Bulletin, we have added more than 100 new records covering 2013 to the IC2 State Chemicals Policy Database. Although the work to add new records traditionally takes place during the summer, we make minor updates throughout the year.

IC2 has been developing a new website for some time and expects to launch it within the next six to eight weeks. While the new site will feature an updated appearance, it will retain most of the content from the existing IC2 website. IC2 will announce when the new site goes live.