Trade Groups Applaud EPA’s 1,4-Dioxane Assessment

The American Cleaning Institute (ACI) and Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA) support a recent determination by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that certain consumer products containing the by-product 1,4-dioxane do not present an unreasonable risk of injury to human health or the environment.

On December 10, ACI and HCPA submitted comments and data to the EPA on 1,4-Dioxane; Supplemental Analysis to the Draft Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Risk Evaluation. 

These comments came in response to EPA’s issuance of a supplemental draft risk evaluation of 1,4-dioxane, which found that regular use of surface cleaning, laundry, dishwashing and, general purpose cleaning products does not pose an unreasonable risk to consumers. In the comments, the associations specifically:
• Highlight that the data provided demonstrates much lower levels, reflective of current concentrations in products. 
• Draw attention to an industry effort to develop, optimize, and validate a method to measure 1,4-dioxane to very low concentrations in complex formulations.
• Recommend that EPA’s risk evaluation of 1,4-dioxane include other use scenarios, including consumer all-purpose cleaners, commercial cleaning products, and general population exposures from drinking water.

“ACI and HCPA support the EPA’s efforts to elicit additional public comment on the draft assessment of the potential risk of 1,4-dioxane in consumer products,” said Kathleen Stanton, ACI associate vice president-technical & international affairs, and Dr. Steve Bennett, HCPA senior vice president, scientific & regulatory affairs. “Companies invest significant time and resources to formulate products responsibly, and we are pleased to see that the Agency agrees that the conditions of use they evaluated do not present an unreasonable risk.”  

1,4-dioxane is a byproduct of the manufacturing process for cleaning products and detergents and is not an intentionally added ingredient. Companies continue to work diligently to adjust manufacturing processes to remove the trace amounts that have been found in these products. Read the associations’ complete comments here.