Volatile issues as VOCs meet regs. (volatile organic compound regulations)

As manufacturers of aerosol hairsprays and aerosol antiperspirants/deodorants (AP/DO) go into the early stages of volatile organic compound (VOC) regulation, they face an array of deadlines, standards, carrots and sticks - all seemingly built on shifting sand. CTFA calls it "a climate of uncertainty." CARB calls it "pretty normal for an industry facing regulation for the first time."

The need for regulation: Until 1989, aerosol hairsprays and AP/DOs were not regulated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which had for 20 years concentrated on regulating US automobiles and smokestack industries. Success there allowed CARB to turn its attention to a comer of a category it calls mobile source emissions (MSE), where it keeps data on consumer products. There, in the 1980s, it found the cosmetics and toiletries industry (Table 1-1).

"Out of the total emissions in California, MSEs represent about 55%. Cosmetics are …