The SBLC was established in 1988 to respond to indoor air quality questions associated with carpeting.  In cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the SB latex industry began a program of toxicological research to investigate allegations of adverse health effects from carpet emissions.  As a result of that research program, in 1992, EPA concluded that “evaluation of the available data failed to establish a cause and effect relationship between carpet emissions and reported symptoms.”  The CPSC, in 1993, came to the virtually identical conclusion when it “did not find sufficient evidence from its investigation that specific chemicals emitted from carpet are responsible for the complaints of adverse health effects associated with new carpet installation.”

The SB latex industry has an ongoing program to enhance the environmental quality of its product such that SB latex-backed carpets consistently meet the very low emission levels specified by the Carpet and Rug Institute’s indoor air quality testing program. 

The SBLC maintains an active analytical chemistry research program to develop methods for better characterizing select VOCs that can be found in SB latex.  The association is also investigating options for recycling SB latex.