Over 100 Businesses and Organizations Call on Congress to Authorize EPA's Safer Choice Program

Businesses across sectors, investors, public health orgs and institutional purchasers urge bipartisan legislation to authorize EPA's Safer Choice program

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, June 3, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Hours after U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Jon Husted (R-Ohio) introduced the Safer Choice Program Authorization Act (SCPAA) to formally authorize and strengthen the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) voluntary Safer Choice Program, the American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN) announced that over 100 businesses, trade associations, investors, and public health organizations have signed a letter to Congress urging bipartisan legislation to authorize and fund the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Safer Choice Program. Led by the American Sustainable Business Network, Household & Commercial Products Association, American Cleaning Institute, Change Chemistry, ISSA – the Association for Cleaning and Facility Solutions, Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility and Alternative Fuels & Chemicals, signers range from major consumer goods companies to small independent businesses, from hospital purchasing departments to public school districts — a cross-sector consensus that the program delivers real economic and public health value and deserves a durable statutory foundation.

The Safer Choice Program is a voluntary, science-based EPA partnership that helps companies identify and use safer ingredients in consumer and institutional products. Products bearing the Safer Choice label are growing in the market several times faster than unlabeled competitors in the same categories. Despite that track record, the program has never been authorized in statute, leaving it vulnerable to administrative discontinuity.

“EPA’s Safer Choice program works because the market has validated it. Companies across the value chain have built real business decisions around it, which has served to increase their market share,” said David Levine, Co-founder and President at American Sustainable Business Network. “This federal program delivers results for businesses and consumers. Over 100 signers, including major business and trade associations alongside individual companies of every size, send a clear signal to Congress: this program has earned its place in statute and needs to be authorized.”

“At ECOS, every product we make is certified by the EPA’s Safer Choice program — it’s the foundation of how we formulate and how we earn the trust of consumers,” said Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, president and CEO at ECOS. “Without a durable federal standard, that trust is harder to build and easier to lose. We’re grateful to the American Sustainable Business Network for organizing this coalition and to Senators Coons and Husted for introducing the Safer Choice Program Authorization Act. Authorization will give U.S. manufacturers a competitive advantage in the global market and ensure innovation of products that are better for human and planetary health.”

“HCPA is proud to partner with a strong coalition of stakeholders across sectors, including ASBN, to show our united support for the EPA’s Safer Choice program,” said Steve Caldeira, President & CEO, HCPA. “We thank ASBN for providing a platform to showcase Safer Choice’s broad impact, as well as Senator Coons and Senator Husted for their commitment to helping move safer chemistries into the marketplace.”

The letter urges Congress to formally establish the Safer Choice Program in statute; direct EPA to maintain and periodically update program standards through a transparent, science-based process; preserve and strengthen the Safer Chemical Ingredients List; and authorize multi-year appropriations to ensure program stability.

Other signers include The Clorox Company, Unilever United States, Church & Dwight, Seventh Generation, Henkel Corporation, Grove Collaborative, Consumer Brands Association, Case Medical, Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, City of Durham NC, West Allis-West Milwaukee School District, Spartan Chemical Company, Interface Incorporated, and more.

The full letter and signer list are available at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uzz5FC9v0iU6YlJ0ymeV0Kq3UiCmLLfo/preview.

Additional quotes from signees

“Rina Singh, PhD, Executive Vice President at Alternative Fuels & Chemicals Coalition (AFCC) and its member companies thank Senator Coons and Senator Husted for the introduction of the Safer Choice Authorization Act, within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which will establish the Safer Choice Program which provides the development of innovative products that are science-based, and are transparent way to identify products that are safer for the people and the planet, supporting informed purchasing decisions and promoting safer chemical innovation for our consumers, businesses, and the environment.”

"Naturepedic has spent two decades manufacturing certified organic mattresses and bedding because the families who trust us with their children's sleep deserve products that are safer for their health. The EPA's Safer Choice program gives those same families a federally credible way to identify cleaning products they can trust with the same confidence. Authorizing the program in statute protects a benchmark American families rely on every day, in every aisle, often without even realizing it," said Barry Cik, Founder & Technical Director, Naturepedic Organic Mattresses and Bedding.

"ICCR's network of institutional investors has engaged corporations on chemicals management for decades, and EPA's Safer Choice program is one of the most credible signals available for assessing how seriously a company is committed to safer products. For investors, regulatory uncertainty is material risk. A program that exists only by administrative discretion puts every company that has invested in meeting its standard at risk of seeing that work devalued. Authorization of the Safer Choice program would protect the long-term shareholder value it has already created," said Erica Lasdon, Director for Climate Change and Environmental Justice at the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.


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About American Sustainable Business Network
American Sustainable Business Network (ASBN) amplifies the collective voice of sustainable business to lead the way to a regenerative economy that is stakeholder-driven, just, and prosperous. As a multi-issue, membership organization advocating on behalf of every business sector, size, and geography, ASBN works to advance its mission to inform, connect, and mobilize sustainable business leaders, transforming the public and private sectors toward a just and regenerative economy.

Anayana White
American Sustainable Business Network
anayana@asbnetwork.org

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