Issues Regarding Specific Chemicals or Ingredients Procter & Gamble uses a wide variety of chemicals in its products to provide the performance attributes that consumers desire. It has been P&G's longstanding policy to ensure that our products are safe for both people and the environment when used as intended, and that we comply with government regulations in the locations where we do business. We carefully evaluate the safety of our products and their ingredients, using well-established risk assessment methods. In recent years, especially with the growth of the Internet, consumers and stakeholders have gained greater access to information about the ingredients in consumer products. As a consequence, we have seen growth in the number of questions we receive about the safety of particular ingredients, and the basis for our decisions to use them. Of particular interest are ingredients where there is some concern about properties such as toxicity, or fate in the environment. The following sections (and associated pages) describe our views regarding several such ingredients. These examples illustrate a variety of outcomes for our safety evaluations of ingredients of concern, ranging from broad-scale elimination of uses (e.g.. nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxlyates), to restriction within only certain product categories (e.g. polycyclic musks) to continued global use in several product categories (e.g., Diethylphthalate).   Polycyclic Musks Polycyclic musks have been used as perfume ingredients to provide scent or mask undesirable odors in a variety of household consumer products. In the mid-1990s, concerns were raised by both scientists and government authorities about two major polycyclic musks, Tonalid and Galaxolide, regarding predictions that they could be persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT). With the limited data available at that time, P&G's own internal assessments also predicted concerns about long-term use of Tonalid and Galaxolide. As a consequence, we began to phase out the use of both substances in our products. However, more comprehensive research sponsored by government and industry has provided new data that does not support the earlier predictions. Authorities no longer classify either Tonalid or Galaxolide as PBT, and have continued to allow them (with limits) in consumer products. As a result, P&G is no longer eliminating either chemical. We will, however, continue to minimize usage in high volume applications, especially those that could be widely released to the environment. We are also complying with government limits for their use for cosmetics, and other regulatory requirements. Read More about Polycyclic Musks.   Nitromusks Like polycyclic musks, nitromusks have been historically common perfume ingredients. The safety of several common nitromusks, in particular Musk Xylol and Musk Ketone, has also been questioned based on predictions in the early-1990s that they were persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) substances. As a consequence of these concerns about long-term use, and in the absence of available data to resolve them, P&G in the mid-1990s removed Musk Xylol and several other "minor" nitromusks (e.g., musk ambrette) from its product fragrances and perfumes. Musk Ketone was removed from high volume uses such as laundry products to minimize releases to the environment. We also limited any new uses and have since been replacing Musk Ketone whenever perfumes are being discontinued or reformulated. As a result, the use of these nitromusks has been reduced by approximately 95 % across our business The decision to remove Musk Xylol and minor musks from our products has been affirmed by recent scientific research and risk assessments by several government authorities. The assessments have largely validated these chemicals' classification as PBT. At the same time, our decision to continue limited uses of Musk Ketone has also been supported by recent scientific research, risk assessments by several government authorities and industry voluntary agreements. Read More about Nitromusks.   Phthalates Phthalates are a large and diverse chemical family used in a variety of industrial and consumer applications, including plasticizers (making plastics soft and flexible), industrial solvents, alcohol denaturants, and as solvents and odorless diluents in cosmetics and perfumes. In the past several years, some phthalates have been shown to impair the fetal development of male laboratory animals at high doses. As a result, some parties have expressed concerns about possible health effects of all kinds of phthalates and called for their removal from consumer products. P&G uses one of the members of the phthalates family, diethylphthalate (DEP), as a minor ingredient in several cosmetic products, and as perfume fragrances. We have also used dibutylphthalate (DBP) in nail polishes. We do not use other varieties of phthalates in our products. Based on very thorough scientific investigations by academic and government scientists, and recent government regulatory assessments, we have concluded that our current uses of DEP are safe for consumers. However, we have reformulated our nail polish products to remove DBP, primarily because of new regulatory restrictions in Europe. Read More about Phthalates.   Nonylphenol and Nonylphenol Ethoxylates Nonylphenol (NP) and surfactants (cleaning agents) produced from NP, called nonylphenol ethoxylates or NPEs, have been used by some in household and commercial products. In the early to mid-1990s, concerns were raised about NP's slow degradation and toxicity as well as, its behavior as an "endocrine disruptor" (leading to adverse effects in hormone systems), especially in fish. This has led to questions whether the long-term use of NP or NPEs in high volume applications such as laundry detergents and household cleaners might harm the environment and to actions by regulatory authorities to restrict their use. As a matter of practice, P&G prefers to use fully and rapidly biodegradable surfactants in its products, especially in high volume laundry and cleaning products. In the 1970's, while evaluating NPE for potential use in company products, P&G scientists determined that NPE is rapidly converted to NP and other slowly degrading metabolites that are more toxic and bioaccumulative than the parent NPE. As a result, the company decided not to use NP and NPE in high volume laundry and cleaning products. Over the years we reviewed products coming to P&G in acquisitions, initiating reformulation efforts where appropriate. Since the mid-1990's, P&G has worked to eliminate intentional uses of nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates in other consumer products and in fragrances and perfumes. We are also working with our suppliers to halt the supply chain use of NP in the production of other ingredients (e.g. as a solubility aid) to further eliminate trace impurities in our consumer products. Read More about Nonylphenol and Nonylphenol Ethoxylates.