CCSPA announced our voluntary ingredient initiative in 2008. One of the things we were looking for was to provide more meaningful information to consumers who were looking for information about the ingredients. So we launched this program, and then amended it in 2010 to increase its scope from intentionally added ingredients to preservatives, dyes, and fragrances.
We have had 100% adherence to the program from the members since its inception and we do regular audits of the members to ensure that they are complying with the program.
One of the modern flexibilities of the program is that we can provide the information to consumers either through websites, a 1-800 number, or on product labels. So companies have the option of doing one of those, or all of the above.
When we launched the program, we were very pleased to have endorsements and support from not only the Canadian Lung Association, the Canadian Cancer Society, but also the Canadian Institute of Child Health; the federal government of the day of Prime Minister Harper; and the Ontario provincial government of the day of Dalton McGuinty.