Transparency sought in US chemical supply chain

With Congress prepared to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976, the US now has a chance to address chemical ingredient transparency across the supply chain according to Patricia J Beattie writing in the Huffington Post. Over the past 30 years, the science available to evaluate the health and environmental impacts of chemicals has advanced greatly along with consumer expectations for safer chemicals and products. 

According to Beattie, the sharing of chemical information through the supply chain is not new as any company doing business in the European Union is required to communicate chemical information up and down the supply chain and similar requirements are being considered in many other countries.   However many manufacturers still don't know the chemicals in their products. Product manufacturers, especially of products like computers, building products and automobiles, often don't know the chemicals contained in the materials they use in their products. Extracting chemical ingredient information from complex supply chains is a challenging task that few companies dare to undertake.

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