EDF Health

EDF applauds bipartisan breakthrough on TSCA reform legislation

By / Published: April 27, 2015

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

Environmental Defense Fund applauds the enormous progress announced today by Senators on both sides of the aisle to develop and advance bipartisan legislation to reform our nation’s badly broken 40-year-old chemical safety law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

Today’s announcement is the culmination of two years of tough negotiations led by Senators Tom Udall and David Vitter, who have worked steadfastly to address the concerns of Members and stakeholders. With the agreed-upon changes, the revised bill represents a strong, bipartisan compromise that fixes the major flaws in current law and addresses each of the key concerns raised by Members at the March hearing.

The strong bipartisan support for this manager’s amendment paves the way for the Committee to advance legislation to the Senate floor that can finally bring our chemical safety law into the 21st century.

Posted in Health policy, TSCA reform / Tagged | Comments are closed

TSCA reform legislation: Confidential business information

By / Published: April 23, 2015

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

Part 1              Part 2              Part 3              Part 4              Part 5

[UPDATE 4-29-15:  On April 28, 2015, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a revised version of the Lautenberg Act out of the committee on a bipartisan 15-5 vote.  The new bill made a few revisions to a provision discussed in this post; see update below.]

[UPDATE 5-17-15:  On May 14, 2015, the House Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy passed a revised version of the TSCA Modernization Act of 2015 out of the subcommittee on a bipartisan 21-0 vote.  The new draft made a significant revision to one of the provisions discussed in this post; see update dated 5-17-15 below. UPDATE 5-28-15:  The legislation was formally introduced as H.R. 2576 on May 26, 2015.  The new version made no significant changes to the CBI provisions discussed below.]

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts looking at less talked-about, but critically important, elements of bipartisan legislative proposals to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  This post deals with how EPA would address industry claims for protection of confidential business information (CBI) pertaining to chemicals, and disclosure of CBI to various parties.  The discussion is divided into three parts, addressing:  (1) CBI claims for chemical identity, (2) access to health and safety information and (3) duration of CBI claims.

Read More »

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Behind the Label: the Blueprint for Safer Chemicals in the Marketplace

By Jack Pratt / Published: April 21, 2015

Boma Brown-West is a manager on EDF’s Supply Chain Team within the Corporate Partnerships Program.

If you’re in the business of using chemicals to make consumer products – things like shampoo or baby lotions, spray cleaners or laundry soap – the last few years have likely been anything but dull. State legislatures have been passing laws restricting certain chemicals from products; consumers are demanding more transparency about product ingredients; and some of the nation’s biggest retailers, including Walmart and Target, have issued chemical policies of their own.

Read More »

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TSCA reform legislation: How chemicals are selected for safety evaluations

By / Published: April 20, 2015

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

Part 1              Part 2              Part 3              Part 4              Part 5

[UPDATE 4-29-15:  On April 28, 2015, the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee passed a revised version of the Lautenberg Act out of the committee on a bipartisan 15-5 vote.  The new bill made a few revisions to provisions discussed in this post; see updates below.]

[UPDATE 5-17-15:  On May 14, 2015, the House Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy passed a revised version of the TSCA Modernization Act of 2015 out of the subcommittee on a bipartisan 21-0 vote.  The new draft made several revisions to provisions discussed in this post; see updates dated 5-17-15 below.  UPDATE 5-28-15:  The legislation was formally introduced as H.R. 2576 on May 26, 2015.  ]

This is the third in a series of blog posts looking at less talked-about, but critically important, elements of bipartisan legislative proposals to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  This post deals with how EPA would select which chemicals would undergo safety evaluations.

Under current TSCA, EPA has no mandate to review the safety of existing chemicals. There are no pacing requirements, such as specifying minimum numbers of chemicals to be examined.  The law provides no criteria for EPA to use in identifying chemicals that may pose risks.  There are no requirements for EPA to establish goals for reviews or schedules for any reviews it does undertake.

Safety reviews are rarely undertaken, and often consume many years (or even decades) – in large part because there are no mandates or deadlines.  As a result of these aspects of the current law, only about 2% of the chemicals that were on the market at the time TSCA was enacted have undergone any sort of safety review.

In 2012, EPA on its own initiative undertook a prioritization process that has led to identification of about 90 so-called “work plan” chemicals, for which EPA is conducting or intends to conduct risk assessments; five have been completed to date.

How would TSCA reform legislation identify chemicals to be subjected to safety reviews?   Read More »

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TSCA reform legislation: EPA review of new chemicals

By / Published: April 16, 2015

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

Part 1              Part 2              Part 3              Part 4              Part 5

[UPDATE 5-17-15:  On April 28, 2015, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a revised version of the Lautenberg Act out of the committee on a bipartisan 15-5 vote.  On May 14, 2015, the House Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy passed a revised version of the TSCA Modernization Act of 2015 out of the subcommittee on a bipartisan 21-0 vote.  UPDATE 5-28-15:  The legislation was formally introduced as H.R. 2576 on May 26, 2015.  The new versions made no significant changes to the new chemicals provisions discussed below.]

This is the second in a series of blog posts looking at less talked-about, but critically important, elements of bipartisan legislative proposals to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  This post deals with EPA authority to review new chemicals prior to their entry into commerce.

TSCA divided the universe of chemicals into two groups:  “Existing chemicals” are those on the market at the time the first TSCA Inventory was established (1979), numbering some 62,000 chemicals.  These chemicals were grandfathered in by the original law, with no mandate for them to be tested or reviewed for safety.  “New chemicals” are those that entered commerce at some point since 1979, numbering some 23,000 chemicals.  Between 500 and 1,000 new chemicals enter commerce in a typical year.  (Given these large numbers, it’s surprising how relatively little focus there has been on the way bipartisan reform proposals would address new chemicals.  I’ll amplify on this point at the end of this post.)   Read More »

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TSCA reform legislation: Enhancing EPA testing authority

By / Published: April 15, 2015

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

Part 1              Part 2              Part 3              Part 4             Part 5

[UPDATE 5-17-15:  On April 28, 2015, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee passed a revised version of the Lautenberg Act out of the committee on a bipartisan 15-5 vote.  On May 14, 2015, the House Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy passed a revised version of the TSCA Modernization Act of 2015 out of the subcommittee on a bipartisan 21-0 vote.  UPDATE 5-28-15:  The legislation was formally introduced as H.R. 2576 on May 26, 2015.  The new versions made no significant changes to the testing provisions discussed below.]

While most of the attention around legislation to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has focused on the issue of preemption, it’s important not to lose sight of how new legislation would address fundamental problems in the current law.  This post will be the first in a series examining flaws in TSCA and how recent bipartisan reform proposals would address them.

The Lautenberg Act, S. 697, is the bipartisan TSCA reform legislation introduced in the Senate in March.  A bipartisan process has also begun in the House, leading to last week’s release of a discussion draft of “The TSCA Modernization Act of 2015.”  In this series of posts, I’ll describe how each of these legislative vehicles would address the specific problematic area of the current law I’m discussing.

First up, EPA testing authority.   Read More »

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