WASHINGTON, D.C.—Green Seal recently announced a prohibition on any per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in all Green Seal-certified cleaning and personal care products. Products certified to Green Seal’s updated standards will be verified to be PFAS-free and to meet one of the highest benchmarks for safety and environmental protection in the marketplace, the group announced.
Green Seal’s standards have prohibited long-chain PFAS formally classified as hazardous. However, a growing body of evidence indicates that short-chain PFAS have the same harmful health and environmental effects as the legacy PFAS they are replacing. Green Seal’s updated cleaning and personal care product standards now prohibit all approximately 12,000 chemicals in this class.
“Purchasers and manufacturers know the hazards of this class of toxic chemicals but lack reliable ways to ensure products are PFAS-free,” said Doug Gatlin, CEO of Green Seal. “Green Seal’s standard criteria now eliminate PFAS throughout the product formula supply chain for certified cleaning and personal care products while maintaining performance requirements, so buyers can choose safer, healthier, and effective products with confidence.”
With the new prohibition, Green Seal says it can provide assurance to both manufacturers and buyers that their Green Seal-certified cleaning and personal care products are PFAS-free.
Phased Initiative
Green Seal is taking a product-category approach to developing PFAS restrictions as part of a multi-year phased initiative to ensure that certified products in all categories have leadership restrictions on PFAS.
Green Seal says the approach is critical to ensure its standards effectively address manufacturing and use considerations that vary by product category, including exposure pathways, functional performance, and regrettable substitutes.
Green Seal said it focused first on eliminating PFAS in formulas for certified cleaning and personal care products because PFAS is “non-essential for performance of these types of products.”
To increase supply chain transparency and encourage the use of safer alternatives, Green Seal added criteria to prohibit PFAS in standards for the following product categories:
• General Purpose Cleaners (GS-8, GS-37)
• Laundry Care Products (GS-48, GS-51)
• Specialty Cleaners (GS-52, GS-53)
• Personal Care Products (GS-44, GS-50)
Manufacturers have one year to document that their certified products comply with the updated PFAS criteria, according to Green Seal.
Green Seal says it will now turn its focus to establishing PFAS requirements for other product category standards.
