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Stakeholders urge DTSC and legislature to speed up Safer Consumer Products action on PFAS and microplastics
Summary
Industry, environmental groups and public‑health advocates told legislators DTSC's Safer Consumer Products program has scientific strengths but is moving too slowly; speakers urged use of SB 502 and AB 347 authorities, funding for enforcement and legislative action on PFAS to accelerate protective rules.
Stakeholders from environmental groups, industry and public‑health organizations told the Senate and Assembly oversight committees that California's Safer Consumer Products (SCP) program has technical capacity but needs to deliver faster results to reduce chemical exposures.
Avi Carr of the Natural Resources Defense Council said SCP has made important scientific progress — including candidate chemical lists, PFAS work and a proposal to add microplastics — but has been slow to convert research into regulatory listings. "The program needs to do a lot more to deliver on public health," Carr said, citing completed technical projects and a slow alternatives-analysis process.
Industry representatives, including Nicole Quinones of the Household and Commercial Products Association, said manufacturers value DTSC’s scientific expertise and noted that reformulation and alternatives development involve lengthy supply‑chain work. Quinones said the program’s candidate lists and priority-product signals give industry lead time to prepare.
Speakers urged the department and the legislature to fully implement authorities from SB 502 and AB 347 (which expand data access and enforcement) and to fund enforcement so SCP can use new tools. Several witnesses specifically called for legislative action on PFAS; Carr said the legislature’s phase‑out bill would complement regulatory work.
Advocates asked the committee to consider supplemental legislative funding for enforcement and implementation of SCP authorities so the program can translate scientific findings into faster consumer protections. Butler told lawmakers DTSC now oversees more than 40 scientific projects and expects to regulate roughly 13 products over the next two to three years, which program leadership says will bring it closer to its statutory listing goals.
