California Delays Implementation of "Safer Consumer Product Alternatives" Regulations

The Secretary for Environmental Protection of California has postponed the implementation of the controversial Safe Consumer Product Alternatives Regulations. This legislation would require that chemicals of concern in products be evaluated to determine how to best limit exposure or reduce the level of hazard posed. The regulations would be required to specify actions that the department may take following the completion of the analysis, including imposing requirements to provide additional information, requirements for labeling or other types of product information. Critics of the legislation have called it either not stringent enough or too stringent. As currently proposed. nanomaterials would be exempted from these regulations, a change that occurred following hearings and public comment.