MEET THE COMPANIES LEADING A “START SAFER” REVOLUTION

INTRODUCING THE PILOT PARTICIPANTS OF SAFER™ BY CHEMFORWARD

When ChemFORWARD began in 2018 they knew one of the most pivotal moments would be transitioning their work from assessing single chemicals to assessing trade name materials. After all, if they wanted to transform the supply chain with safer chemistry, they would need to make it easy for formulators to find verified safer alternatives and easy for raw material suppliers to assess and verify their safer offerings. While it took three years and an unprecedented supply chain collaboration, that moment is here.

ChemFORWARD has launched the SAFER™ program to verify and amplify materials by trade name through leading B2B marketplaces. Safer ingredients lead to safer products. ChemFORWARD’s SAFER™ program was designed to help suppliers demonstrate human and environmental safety and build trust with their customers based on a rigorous, third-party process - enabling brands to “start SAFER” in the design and formulation process.

A forward-thinking group of suppliers stepped forward to put their ingredients through the rigorous methodology and unique data sharing infrastructure. These champions include ANGUS Chemical Company, Chinova Bioworks, Dow Personal Care and INOLEX.

Dedicated to sourcing and verifying safer alternatives to humans and the environment, ANGUS Chemical Company saw the move as a simple and strategic step to further support their mission to be transparent with their consumers.

According to Laurie Marshall, Global Personal Care Business Manager for ANGUS, “Several ANGUS chemistries provide unique performance, utility and value in home and personal care applications. As a supplier to these essential markets, it’s critical for us to be transparent with our customers so they, in turn, can be transparent with consumers. In recent years, we’ve seen a proliferation of NGOs and advocacy groups that aim to address product and ingredient safety, but often end up creating misinformation and generating confusion on the part of the formulating scientist as well as the consumer.

“With ChemFORWARD, we have the ability to provide our customers and formulators with qualified, independent third-party safety assessments that are based on data that is appropriate, accurate and complete, and up-to-date. This will allow our customers and, ultimately, the consumer to make informed decisions about using the ingredients and finished products that are the best choices for human safety and the environment. This is a great tool that can help our customers to create the best products and enhance the value of their product offering and their brand.”

Chinova Bioworks came ready to put one of their top ingredients through the rigors of SAFER to independently evaluate what they already believed to be true. David Brown, Co-Founder & COO shared just a few reasons for the decision to utilize SAFER™. “We submitted our new natural antimicrobial ingredient, BioFiber+, which is a unique extract of fibers from white button mushrooms that replaces harmful synthetic preservatives in lotions, creams and other oil/water emulsions.

The SAFER™ program is a thorough and modern way to evaluate the safety of cosmetic ingredients. We knew our BioFiber+ ingredient is natural, biocompatible, and good for people and the environment, but we wanted the in-depth scientific analysis that only a program like SAFER™ could provide to show unequivocally how safe our ingredient is.”

Dow Personal Care put 11 ingredients through the SAFER™ program and after seeing first-hand how the process works believes the benefits to ingredient suppliers is two-fold. According to Jessica Ding, marketing manager, Dow Personal Care, “As an ingredient supplier, we are happy to see ChemFORWARD building up this database which will be leveraged across different B2B marketplaces like Novi. The dataset provides consistency in evaluating material safety across platforms and reduces complexity for brands and suppliers.” Ding goes on to say that while deeply rooted in complex science the ease and transparency of the program is what makes it different. “The SAFER™ program offers brands an easy, straight-forward way to assess material safety without sacrificing scientific accuracy. SAFER™ designations are based on assessments that are conducted by reputable independent toxicology firms.”

Rounding out the SAFER™ champions is INOLEX, designer of emerging, sustainable ingredients for health, beauty, and wellness. The product they chose for testing was the emollient, LexFeel™ Natural. It was selected in part because of its strong safety profile and the investment Inolex has made in ensuring it was safe for consumers. As Lisa Gandolfi, INOLEX VP of Marketing tells it, the role consumers play in demanding suppliers and manufacturers to up their safety game reinforces why the industry as a whole can benefit from SAFER™.

“Because consumers care, we’ve seen retailers start to care a lot more about the safety of their ingredients. This opens an avenue for a potential trust gap with implications in a very long supply chain. As the ingredient manufacturer, we have a burden of proof of safety, which we take very seriously. Then we have our customers, which are the finished goods manufacturers, that must trust what we’ve put forward and do their own evaluation. Then the retailers have to trust what the finished goods manufacturers are saying, and ultimately the consumers have to trust the retailers. When you have an independent body that can bridge all these gaps and stay consistent through the process, I believe there’s a huge opportunity. SAFER™ has the ability to educate all the way through the supply chain and be one united voice that carries us through.

Ultimately this will allow consumers, retailers, brands and ingredient suppliers to speak the same language, have the same set of standards, and really line up on safety.”  

Why SAFER. VIDEO
Meet the companies embarking on a new way to define SAFER.  VIDEO

To learn more about SAFER and start your own journey of discovery visit our website at www.chemforward.org/safer or contact info@chemforward.org.
For press inquiries please contact Teresa@followtheloop.com or (919) 210-5150.