California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC)

The California DTSC Safer Consumer Product's second proposed Priority Product regulation is going to notice. The comment period for Spray Polyurethane Foam Systems with Unreacted Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanates as a Priority Product opens at 8:00 A.M. PDT on March 24, 2017 and ends at 5:00 P.M. PDT on May 16, 2017.

On March 13, 2014, DTSC released the draft Initial Priority Products List identifying the first set of three product-chemical combinations proposed for regulation under the Safer Consumer Products regulations. One of the products on the draft Initial Priority Products List is SPF Systems Containing Unreacted Diisocyanates.

Also in March 2014, DTSC released a Priority Product Profile for each of the three products on the draft Initial Priority Products List, including a profile for SPF Systems Containing Unreacted Diisocyanates. In September 2014, after conducting a series of three public workshops on the draft Initial Priority Products List and the associated Priority Product Profiles, and after the Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance ("SPFA") submitted extensive comments along with other representatives of the industry, DTSC released a Revised Priority Product Profile for such SPF Systems. The revised Priority Product Profile made a number of changes in the scope of the product and chemical, including limiting the product to SPF Systems containing only unreacted methylene diphenyl diisocyanates ("SPF Systems").

DTSC will hold a public hearing from 1:30 P.M.-3:30 P.M. PDT on May 16, 2017 at the CalEPA Building on 1001 "I" Street, Sacramento, California 95814. It is notable that this process has been delayed by DTSC for several years past their initial estimates and this announcement of a public hearing comes with an unexpectedly short notification. The industry is preparing for this engagement, but SPFA supports the request letter for extension of the comment period by an additional 60 days to July 14, 2017 as submitted by the American Chemistry Council.

You too can send a similar request emphasizing the extension of comment period to:

Dr. Julia Gress

Safer Products and Workplaces Program

Department of Toxic Substances Control

P.O. Box 806

Sacramento, California 95812-0806

Or by email to:

Resources for you to review as you re-familiarize yourself with this issue:

SPFA has been directly involved in this issue since its inception in 2014 and will continue to engage the DTSC.

Also notably the DTSC has presented at several recent SPFA Annual Conventions & Expos in an effort to keep the status of progress and lines of communication open between the industry and DTSC. The most recent DTSC presentation from the 2017 Sprayfoam Show is available for download here.