Colgate, Other Firms Fight to Save EPA Safer Chemicals Program

Major businesses are among those asking the EPA to keep programs that help companies make safer chemical products off the Trump administration’s chopping block, despite increasing pressure to play down so-called green initiatives.

The BASF Corp., Colgate-Palmolive Co., Staples Inc., Case Medical Inc., and Unilever PLC are among a growing coalition of companies, investors, and other groups that circulated an open letter sent to the Environmental Protection Agency asking it to retain the Safer Choice and a related antimicrobial program that recognize products made with chemicals that meet protective health and environmental criteria.

Federal agencies, including the EPA, ...