Links to essential reading on Senate and House TSCA reform legislation

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

[UPDATE 2/26/16:  Updated versions of (1) our detailed side-by-side comparison of Senate and House bills — now with bill section references — and (2) our 5-part series have been posted below.]

On December 17, 2015, the full Senate passed the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (S. 697, the Lautenberg Act), which would amend the nearly 40-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

The House of Representatives already passed its TSCA reform bill in June, the TSCA Modernization Act of 2015, H.R. 2576.

Next up in the New Year will be efforts to reconcile these two bills.  In anticipation of this, I am posting here updated analyses of the two bills that examine how and to what extent they would address key flaws in TSCA.  These analyses include:

• brief and detailed side-by-sides of TSCA and the two bills,
• a comparison of how the bills deal with the contentious issue of preemption of state authority,
• a comparison of how well the bills meet the Administration’s principles for TSCA reform, and
• an earlier blog post on the importance of understanding which chemicals are in use today.

All of these materials (including this post) are available at blogs.edf.org/health.

ANALYSES:

• UPDATED 2/26/16:  How would Senate and House TSCA reform legislation address key flaws in TSCA?  Update of our 5-part series on less talked-about but critically important elements of TSCA reform:
  • Enhancing testing authority
  • EPA review of new chemicals
  • How chemicals are selected for safety evaluations
  • Confidential business information
  • Consideration of costs and other non-risk factors
• Comparing the Senate and House TSCA reform legislation: A side-by-side
• UPDATED 2/26/16 with bill section references:  And now the gory details: A deep-dive comparison of the Senate and House TSCA reform legislation
• Understanding preemption in the Lautenberg Act
• A mixed bag: Comparing the preemption provisions of the Senate and House TSCA reform bills
• How the Senate and House TSCA reform bills stack up against the Administration’s Principles for TSCA Reform
• We don’t know how many chemicals are in use today. We should know.