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California Confirms Sleep Products Comply with Safer Consumer Products Regulations

California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control has verified that certain children’s sleep products sold in California satisfy relevant safety standards. The agency found that TDCPP and TCEP were not detected in any significant concentrations in the products that were examined in testing performed by the agency.

The sleep products, which “appear to be in compliance” with the Safer Consumer Products (SCP) regulations, were designated as “priority products” under the SCP programme in July 2017. The designation of children’s foam-padded sleeping products containing flame retardants (TDCPP and TCEP) by the SCP resulted in the state requiring manufacturers to either stop using those specific chemicals or conduct evaluations to assess whether safer alternatives are available.

As of the deadline for taking action, the product manufacturers had not stated that they intended to engage in a safer alternatives analysis. The California agency therefore initiated its own evaluations to determine whether the products were free from the target chemicals. The agency analyzed 21 infant products from major online retailers. The state concluded that none of the products contained TDCPP or TCEP in amounts that indicate that the chemicals were deliberately added to the products. These results, published in a report entitled Testing Children’s Foam-Padded Sleeping Products in California: A Summary of Findings, verified that additional compliance checks were not necessary at this time since these chemicals were no longer being used in infant products.

Despite concluding that TDCPP and TCEP were not present in significant levels in the target products, other flame retardants that are not covered by the regulation were detected. These flame retardants were present in the products at levels near or above 1,000 parts per million. However, the products with the most flame retardants were produced between 2013 and 2015. In contrast, products manufactured in the last two years did not contain flame retardants which suggests that manufacturers may have stopped adding flame retardants to certain types of children’s products. Industry experts believe that the DTSC regulation helped move along a a trend that was already in progress.

Grimaldi Law Offices has been advising clients for over 20 years on chemical and product law. For knowledgeable advice and in-depth analysis on your chemical regulatory compliance obligations, contact Grimaldi Law Offices at (415) 463-5186 or email us at [email protected].

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Grimaldi maintains a diverse environmental law practice focusing on chemical and product regulation and litigation defense. Her practice areas include Proposition 65, California's Safer Consumer Products Regulations, California's Rigid Plastic Packaging Container Act and the federal Toxic Substances Control Act. Ms. Grimaldi graduated from the University of California Hastings College of the Law magna cum laude and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Bacteriology from University of California, Davis. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a research assistant in laboratories at the University of California, San Francisco Cancer Research Institute and at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.