California has ordered tough new regulations on 2,600 common household products - including perfumes, insecticides and adhesives - in an effort to reduce air pollution by as much as 60 tons a day.
The rules, to take effect in January 1995, were adopted Thursday by the state Air Resources Board, which writes California's air pollution regulations.They allow manufacturers a one-year grace period to bring their products into compliance.
About half of the nearly 2,600 products already meet the new rules, but state officials said it will cost manufacturers somewhere between $13 million and $205 million a year to change those that don't.
Although the regulations cover perfumes and colognes, those marketed in California before January 1994 will be exempted.
Not exempted are spray starches, fabric protectants, aerosol cooking sprays, carburetor choke cleaners, charcoal lighters and brake cleaners.
In some cases, productmakers simply will have to replace aerosol cans with pump spray containers to meet the new regulations. But some manufacturers will have to reformulate their products, the board's staff said.
"All of these products have two things in common," said ARB official Jerry Martin. "Either they use a hydrocarbon propellant, which is essentially the same hydrocarbon that is exhausted from cars, or they use base products such as alcohol in their chemical formula, which can evaporate and also cause ozone problems."
Ozone, which accounts for 95 percent of smog, is a health-threatening air pollutant that can lead to respiratory distress and illness.
S. William Becker, executive director of the Association of Local Air Pollution Control Officials, said the rules represent an effort by the state to go after smaller polluters after having already clamped down on major sources of pollution.
He said some states have already adopted similar regulations and others will probably eventually do so.
"It sounds as if state governments are dipping into very small domains, but in toto, it represents a large part of the emission inventories," he said. "We have regulated all of the large and easy industries, and now we are stuck with going after the `Ma and Pa' industries."