What's the recipe for a safer product

Have you ever swapped a key ingredient in a recipe?

Sometimes you run out of chocolate chips for your cookies. So, you chop up a candy bar, mix it in, and bam! You end up with the best chocolate chip cookies ever.

Other times, you swap something else like granulated sugar for brown sugar. The texture changes, the flavor is off, or you end up with a hockey puck destined for the compost bin.

Finding safer alternatives to harmful chemicals in everyday products works in a similar way.

If one chemical is removed from a product, its replacement still needs to perform similarly. Paint still needs to last on walls and buildings. Waterproof jackets still need to repel rain. Food packaging still needs to protect what's inside for transport and keep contents fresh.

And more importantly, the replacement needs to do something else: it must be safer for people, wildlife, and the environment over time.

This is the challenge behind our Safer Products for Washington program - identifying alternatives that help products perform the same way while reducing harmful chemical exposures and environmental impacts.

This summer, the Safer Products for Washington team will host a series of webinars to share updates on safer alternatives for several consumer products.

More than a simple swap

Let's say you want to make your chocolate chip cookies softer and chewier. You might test a new ingredient, like swapping granulated sugar for brown sugar. When you do, you observe that this results in a more flavorful, tender cookie. But it's flatter and can burn easily.

Then, you research how others improved their recipes. You learn about milk powder after reading a post on Reddit. You also see that you need to decrease the baking time to keep the milk solids from browning. But because they're a drier ingredient, they don't cause the dough to flatten or spread.

So, you swap and adjust accordingly, and voilà! A softer, chewier cookie that doesn't spread.

When our scientists look at replacements for harmful chemicals, it's a lot like this process.

Our scientists work with manufacturers to understand what role the chemical plays in a product. Then, we look for alternatives already in use in similar products. From here, we review and observe how these alternatives perform in that consumer product. And as we review alternatives, we note whether those alternatives may affect people, wildlife, or the environment throughout a product's lifecycle.

Some alternatives may reduce health hazards to people but might still harm wildlife and the environment. Other alternatives may perform well, but we need more information to fully understand potentially harmful impacts.

This is why our Safer Products team evaluates alternatives across the lifecycle of a product: from manufacturing and everyday use to disposal and environmental releases.

The goal is to make sure that when one chemical replaces another in a product, it does so in ways that lead to safer combinations over time - because safer chemicals lead to safer products, reduced health hazards, less pollution, and a healthier environment.

Building a better recipe

Just like adjusting a favorite recipe, creating safer products takes research, comparison, and careful choices about which ingredients lead to the best results.

Our Safer Products for Washington team is "recipe testing" by researching safer alternatives for toxic chemicals in 15 different consumer product categories. This June and July 2026, we'll share updates about possible alternatives identified so far.

Please join us for any or all of these informational sessions. Use the links below to register.

• June 10: Cosmetics, Nail Products, and Firefighting PPE
• June 16: Jewelry and Accessories, Motor Vehicle Tires, and Cookware and Kitchen Supplies
• June 24: Architectural Paints, Sealants, Caulks, and Adhesives, and Hard Surface Sealers
• July 8: Insulation, Solid Deodorizers, and Floor Waxes and Polishes
• July 15: Plastic Packaging, Artificial Turf, and Printing Inks
  This last webinar is also an opportunity for audience feedback on all products.

All webinars will be held 12:30-2:00 p.m. PST on the listed date.

Need language assistance? Interpretation services are available at no cost. To request them, email [email protected] or call 360-280-5799 at least seven days before the webinar you want to attend. If you can't attend, the webinars will be recorded and available after the event on our YouTube channel.

After these webinars, we'll compile data about possible alternatives. Then, in November, the team will publish draft recommendations for each priority product category, followed by a 45-day public comment period that ends before the late December holidays.

To get email updates on our product work and how you can contribute, subscribe to our Safer Products for Washington list.