Green Seal to Revise Standard for Cleaners

January 31, 2007 | Written By: Healthy Schools Campaign

by Claris Olson, HSC Environmental Health Specialist

It was great to read Green Seal’s latest press release about revising GS-37 — the standard for industrial and institutional cleaners. Since the standard was created in 2000, there have been several technological developments and new information on chemical emissions and indoor air quality, endocrine disruptors, and chemicals that can trigger the onset of asthma. Hopefully the revised standard will take into account and reflect this information.

Many of these issues, and especially the concern of protecting the health of sensitive and vulnerable populations such as children and custodial workers, were raised when New York was developing its green cleaning in schools legislation. Green Seal was listening and is working on this revision as a result.

The revision process will be open and transparent. The public will have an opportunity to comment when the standard is proposed for public review, and a stakeholders committee will be formed to provide and review input. All stakeholders or interested parties who want to be more actively involved in the GS-37 review process should send an e-mail to Green Seal with their full contact information, including their organization or occupation, by Feb. 15, 2007, at GS37@utk.edu.

It will be interesting to see if this results in a reformulation by many manufacturers to meet the new standard, or if this will be a GS37+. Stay tuned.