Is ‘zero’ focus best use of resources?

WAKEFIELD – VF Corp executive Sean Cady has questioned whether Greenpeace’s focus on “hitting zero” detection for 11 particular chemical categories is necessarily the best use of industry resources. Discussing VF Corp’s new chemical screening tool – Chem-IQ – with Ecotextile News, Cady said: “Greenpeace and the Detox campaign is something we watch closely. All 11 chemical categories are included in our screening, and out of our 1,294 unique formulations, we didn’t find these 11 pervasive in our formulation. We did find some (solvents, heavy metals, phthalates), but most importantly, from mall of those chemicals that we have screened, we only found three formulations that have PFCs and a measurable amount of APOs. So it makes us wonder whether the effort to hit ‘zero’ on APOs, for example, is the best use of our collective resources, because we could be looking at the other 400 hazardous substances that we’re screening for and eliminating where we find them in high concentrations in the drum.”