The Safer Choice and Design for the Environment (DfE) Standard, formerly known as the "Safer Choice Standard," identifies the requirements products and their ingredients must meet to earn the Safer Choice label or the DfE logo.
Safer Choice enables the selection of safer alternatives through informed substitution. The program promotes safer product design and green chemistry alternatives through “informed substitution,” the considered transition from a chemical of particular concern to safer chemicals or non-chemical alternatives. The goals of informed substitution are to minimize the likelihood of unintended consequences, which can result from a precautionary switch away from a chemical of concern without fully understanding the profile of potential alternatives, and to enable a course of action based on the best information—on the environment and human health— that is available or can be estimated. To be considered safer choices, potential alternatives should exhibit as many of the following characteristics as possible: they should be technically feasible; provide an improved profile for health and the environment; account for social considerations; and have the potential to result in lasting change.
To inform substitution, the Safer Choice program considers each ingredient in a product within its distinct functional class (e.g., surfactants, solvents, chelating agents, etc.) and compares the toxicity and fate profiles to identify the safest ingredients. Safer Choice certification is based on using the safest possible ingredients to make a high-performing product. The Safer Choice program considers whole product characteristics, like possible negative synergies between ingredients and pH level, as well as lifecycle factors, like energy efficiency and water savings.