range of testing and evaluation canbe done within this single facilitymeans Univar is not only a key sourcefor personal care and household &industrial cleaning products for ourcustomers, but is also able to offer aunique proposition to our supplierpartners across the Middle East,’ saysNick Powell, regional vice president,Univar. The facility will see Univar’sspecialist dedicated technical teamcreate finished products and newconcepts for customer evaluation.These services will help demonstrateto customers the functional qualitiesand tangible benefits that suppliers’chemical ingredients can have on endproducts and will cover a broadspectrum of personal care andhousehold & industrial cleaningproducts from fabric softeners anddish washing liquid to shampoos andbody lotions.

Original Source: Univar, website:http://www.univarcorp.com (30 Jan 2013) © UnivarInc 2013

Spread of ecolabels vexes cleaningproduct makers

Cleaning products manufacturers inthe USA have to contend with agrowing number of environmentalcertification seals, preferredingredient lists and consumer productguides, also known as ecolabels.Cleaning product companiesparticipate but often find these seals,lists and guides annoying.Proponents maintain that ecolabelsencourage manufacturers to producesafer products and help consumersmake smart buying decisions.However, many cleaning productmakers and ingredients suppliersargue that the spread of ecolabels isonly confusing consumers. They alsomaintain that ecolabels overlookbroader environmental sustainabilitytargets like renewable-ingredientcontent and lower energy usage. Forexample, Seventh Generation wasdisappointed and shocked when itsnew eco-friendly laundry detergentreceived a failing grade from TheEnvironmental Working Group, whichruns an online guide to healthycleaning products. The detergentreceived a D because of the use ofboric acid, which has been linked tohormone disruption in at least one

study. Seventh Generation managedto raise the renewable-ingredientcontent of its detergent from 77% to97% with the help of a surfactant,laureth-6, developed by France’sRhodia. The ethylene oxide used inthe surfactant comes from sugarcane[Focus on Surfactants, Oct 2012]. Itappears that ecolabels cannot beignored. A study of the ecolabellinglandscape commissioned by DowChemical concluded that demand forecolabels is on the rise.

Original Source: Chemical and Engineering News, 28Jan 2013, 91 (4), 10-15 (Website: http://www.cen-online.org) © American Chemical Society 2013

Health

FDA approves Octaplas expandingOctapharma USA’s transfusionmedicine therapies

Octapharma USA announced that theUS Food and Drug Administration(FDA) has approved Octaplas, itssolvent/detergent treated pooledhuman plasma. Octaplas is indicatedfor the management of preoperativeor bleeding patients who requirereplacement of multiple plasmacoagulation factors and for patientswith coagulation deficiencies due tohepatic disease or who areundergoing cardiac surgery or livertransplantation. The FDA alsoapproved the product for transfusionor plasma exchange in patients withcongenital or acquired thromboticthrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), arare blood disorder with an incidenceof 3.8/M. Octaplas is designed toimprove viral safety, avoid transfusion-related acute lung injury and non-haemolytic allergic reactions, andprovide standardized levels ofcoagulation factors equivalent tosingle donor fresh frozen plasma.Pooling human plasma from multipledonors of the same, specific, bloodgroup (ABO) mitigates the singledonor variabilities in essentialcoagulation factors and immuneneutralizing antibodies.Solvent/detergent treatmentinactivates enveloped viruses (suchas Herpes simplex virus-1) byirreversibly disrupting their lipid coats,thereby reducing the risk of infectivity.

Original Source: BioSpace, 22 Jan 2013, (Website:http://www.biospace.com/)

MARKETREVIEWS

The bathroom products market:France, Germany, UK, USA and Russia

The bathroom products market(hypermarket and supermarket sales)in France increased by 2.5% to€686.48 M for the year ended Oct2012, according to SymphonyIRIFrance. Sales growth in the showergel category is better than in 2011 ata value of €504.05 M, driven by thesegment of large sizes of >500 ml. Inthe soap category, performance wasmore mixed, with liquid soap rising4% to €86.42 M, bar soaps slipping to€3.75 M and dermatological soapsdeclining by 6% to €4.66 M. The bathproducts category fell by 13.5% to€17.59 M owing to a poor performancefrom both bath foams and bath oils,which declined 115.2% to €15.3 Mand 5.2% to €1.4 M, respectively.

The bathroom products market inGermany increased in value terms by2.6% to €757.02 M in 2012, withshower products performing best witha 4.3% surge in sales. Value sales forbath additives and soaps rose 0.2%and 0.5%, respectively.

Bathroom products sales for 2011-2012 in the UK increased in value by4-6% to £583.69 M, while volumerose by 2.1% to 462.53 M units. Theoutlook for market share, however,was changeable, with some sub-categories representing a largershare than others. Shower productsretained the largest share, accountingfor 42.1%, trailed by liquid soaps at23.7%. Both categories declined onlast year, by 16.3% and 2.6%,respectively. Salts and liquidssignificantly increased their share ofthe market by 11.1% and 10.7%,respectively, securing 0.7% and19.4% of the market.

Figures from SymphonyIRI Groupshow that the bathroom productscategory in the USA grew slightlyduring 2012, increasing by a mere1.2% to $2.1 bn in the food, drug andmass markets, excluding Walmart.The liquid body wash sector was flat,with a 0.17% growth to $925 M. Fordeodorant bar soaps, sales grew5.35% to about $176 M, while liquidhand soaps increased 4.46% to

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