Monthly Archives: February 2011

No authorization, no market: REACH identifies first six chemicals to be phased out except for explicitly authorized uses

By Richard Denison / Published: February 17, 2011

Allison Tracy is a Chemicals Policy Fellow.  Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

The European Commission today identified the first six chemicals to be made subject to authorization under the European Union’s Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals, or REACH.

The long road to today’s decision began in October 2008, when the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) identified these chemicals as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) and placed them on its Candidate List for chemicals potentially to be subject to authorization. Under REACH, a chemical qualifies as a SVHC as a result of being:  (1) carcinogenic, mutagenic, or a reproductive toxicant (CMR), (2) being persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT), (3) being very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB), or (4) being found to “give rise to an equivalent level of concern.”  Clearly these are the types of chemicals we want to pay attention to!

Today’s formal addition of these chemicals to REACH’s Annex XIV serves to notify manufacturers and importers that they must apply for, and obtain, authorization for specific uses of these chemicals if they want to continue using them beyond their designated sunset dates in 2014 and 2015.  It is of note that this rule applies to the chemicals in question regardless of their production volumes.   Read More »

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A modest proposal: ACC should support and defend President’s proposed budget increase for EPA chemical safety efforts

By Richard Denison / Published: February 15, 2011

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

President Obama unveiled his FY2012 budget yesterday, and the news was rather bleak for EPA:  a proposed 13% decrease.  But one bright spot was a proposed $16.1 million boost in funding for EPA’s chemicals management efforts using its current limited authorities under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

That additional funding, according to EPA, is to be directed at activities to further “reduce chemical risks, increase the pace of chemical hazard assessments, and provide the public with greater access to chemical information so they can make better informed decisions about their health.  Learning more about these chemicals will help protect Americans from potential threats to their health.”

What is perhaps most refreshing is EPA’s rationale for its proposal to maintain and enhance its renewed focus on chemical safety (see pages 55-56 of this EPA budget summary):

Chemicals are often released into the environment as a result of their manufacture, processing, use, and disposal. Research shows that children are getting steady infusions of industrial chemicals before they even are given solid food. Other vulnerable groups, including low-income, minority, and indigenous populations, may also be disproportionately impacted by and thus particularly at risk from chemical exposure.

So, what would the money go to, and how will the chemical industry respond?  Read More »

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EPA’s TSCA CBI policy change yields first increment in restoring public’s chemical right-to-know

By Richard Denison / Published: February 10, 2011

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

The number 14 is getting to be kind of a magic number when it comes to EPA policy and practice relating to confidential business information (CBI) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

I reported earlier that it had been longstanding EPA practice to allow the vast majority of CBI claims made for data submitted by industry under TSCA to stand indefinitely without any review.  In fact, EPA reported in 2005 that it reviewed an average of only 14 – yes, that’s 14 – CBI claims per year out of the thousands of such claims asserted.

But today the number 14 took on a more positive, if still a bit faint, tint:  That’s the number of chemicals the identities of which EPA announced it will soon reveal in association with data it has received that “reasonably supports the conclusion that [the chemical] presents a substantial risk of injury to health or the environment.” While we’ll have to wait another month, and possibly more, to see the chemicals and their associated risk data, these chemicals represent the first installment in what I hope will become a steady flow arising from EPA’s new policy to review, challenge and likely deny CBI claims that seek to mask the names of chemicals that are the subjects of health and safety studies required to be submitted to the Agency. Read More »

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Enduring TSCA myths: Absence of evidence of harm = evidence of absence of harm

By Richard Denison / Published: February 7, 2011

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

A subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) last week.  It’s good to have attention drawn to the issue so early in the new Congress.

But – especially if you missed Senator Lautenberg’s opening statement and the testimony of EPA Assistant Administrator Steve Owens – you may well have come away from the hearing with the impression that TSCA is basically working quite well and really only needs a few tweaks, or what the chemical industry loves to call “modernization.”

Nothing could be further from the truth, of course.  This 35-year-old law is not only outdated, it’s proven ineffectual in myriad ways.  The false impression that all TSCA needs is a little polishing-up was, unfortunately, bolstered by the invoking of two particularly pernicious myths about TSCA by some of the other hearing witnesses.

The first myth, which I’ll deal with in this post, is that EPA’s new chemicals program has worked very well – so often repeated by some former EPA officials that it has become virtual dogma.

The second myth, which I’ll address in a subsequent post, is that we can confidently rely on existing information to identify all of the chemicals of concern on the market today, and safely set aside the rest.  Read More »

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