The World is Watching as NY Takes Next Step to Implement Children’s Product Safety Law
(Albany)—The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Products program held a public meeting today that revealed the latest iteration of lists of Chemicals of Concern that children's product makers will be required to disclose. That list totals approximately 600 chemical hazards. The JustGreen Partnership applauds the agency’s willingness to expand the list consistent with the parameters of the law.
This long-awaited step is a crucial juncture for implementing the Toxic Chemicals in Children's Products law (known for many years as the Child Safe Products Act). The JustGreen Partnership, a statewide coalition of over 50 groups representing over a million New Yorkers, advocated for the law’s passage for over a decade. Many partners attended the meeting, and are closely scrutinizing the DEC's draft proposal.
The proposal is not an official Draft Regulation, but rather is the third in a series of non-mandated opportunities for input the DEC has offered as it develops this program and the Agency's approach to identifying chemicals of concern and requiring their disclosure.
New York’s Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Products Law is more protective of children and will provide significantly more information to parents than any other state. However, there is more the DEC can and should do before finalizing their regulations. For example:
The list for disclosure still includes only some, not all, organohalogen flame retardants. There is a strong scientific, health-based, and technical justification for considering all of them within the hazard-based approach outlined in the law, and consistent with work in Washington State.
The Agency should address all PFAS as one class, with one test necessary to identify its presence in a children’s products, instead of focusing on specific structures. As proposed, only a handful of the 12,000 chemicals would be included. Several New York laws and numerous corporate Restricted Substances Lists use Total Organic Fluorine tests. Regulating these structurally-similar and similarly-hazardous chemicals as a class makes sense, and is the growing trend in other states, nationally, and abroad.
“We are proud of New York’s law to drive disclosure of chemical hazards in children’s products and to restrict the worst ones. The new list of chemicals released by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation puts New York in the driver’s seat nationally for this vital information,” said Bobbi Wilding, Executive Director of Clean+Healthy. “We look forward to submitting our comments, supporting the Agency’s overall approach and calling for stronger class-based action on toxic flame retardants and PFAS forever-chemicals. We urge the Agency to move swiftly to finalize the regulations, and to move forward with aspects of the program that can remove harmful chemicals from being included in children’s products that are sold in New York.
"For too long, the chemical industry has been poisoning our children by allowing cancer-causing toxins to be present in children's items. Today was a long-awaited day from DEC to take action against these industries by enforcing New York’s Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Products Law, a law protecting our children from forever chemicals. We will continue to closely monitor the implementation of the law to ensure we are keeping our communities healthy" said Sonal Jessel, Director of Policy of WE ACT for Environmental Justice.
Per the DEC, the public can make comments on the proposed draft through close of business on March 20, 2023.
Information about this program is available from the Agency here: https://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/122890.html
The draft list of chemicals is available here: https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/tccp_chem_lists.pdf.
