{"id":12367,"date":"2023-12-21T10:18:54","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T15:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/?p=12367"},"modified":"2023-12-21T10:49:08","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T15:49:08","slug":"epas-new-chemical-review-process-a-thought-experiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2023\/12\/21\/epas-new-chemical-review-process-a-thought-experiment\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA\u2019s new chemical review process: A thought experiment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: <\/strong>This is the last in our 6-part series of blogs on EPA\u2019s proposed changes to its new chemical review process. See below under Go Deeper<\/strong> for links to the other blogs in the series.<\/span><\/p>\n

In our previous blogs in this multipart series, we have focused on some of the major changes we believe EPA needs to make in its review process for new chemicals\u2014and how EPA could propose regulations to make those reviews safer.<\/span>In this post, we want to walk you through why EPA must set rules that protect us from all<\/em><\/strong> the ways that a chemical is likely to be used.<\/p>\n

Chemical Z: A Hypothetical Best-Case Study<\/strong><\/h3>\n

ACME chemical company has developed a new product\u2014Chemical Z (ChemZ)\u2014and wants to make and sell it in the United States. ACME executives know that the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires them to apply to EPA for a safety review of ChemZ before they can put it on the market.<\/p>\n

One of the pieces of information ACME must include in its application is how the company intends ChemZ to be used. In ACME\u2019s submission, the company reports to EPA that it intends for ChemZ to be used in just one way: to \u201cdegrease\u201d heavy equipment at oil refineries.<\/p>\n

But the reality is that any chemical is likely to end up being used in a variety of ways\u2014including ways far beyond the control of the submitting company. And this means that, once a chemical is on the market, there are any number of ways that people and the environment may be exposed to it.<\/p>\n

(After all, once EPA makes a safety determination for the new chemical, other companies may start to make and sell it too.)<\/p>\n

Recognizing this possibility, Congress amended TSCA in 2016 to require EPA to evaluate chemicals based not just on a submitting company\u2019s \u201cintended\u201d use, but also on all other uses EPA could \u201creasonably foresee.\u201d That includes how those additional uses might negatively affect people and the environment.<\/p>\n

In the case of ChemZ, EPA properly follows the law and looks for ways that ChemZ may be used in settings other than ACME\u2019s oil refinery. The agency finds that similar chemicals on the market have been used by everyday consumers as aerosol degreasers. ChemZ could foreseeably end up being used in similar products available to the same audience(s).<\/p>\n

In other words, it\u2019s unlikely that ChemZ will be used only as ACME intends\u2014to degrease factory equipment. Regulators foresee a likelihood that it will end up being used by both oil refinery employees and consumers in their homes\u2014exposing many more people to ChemZ.<\/p>\n

EPA then places restrictions on ChemZ sufficient to prevent \u201cunreasonable risk of injury\u201d to workers in the oil refineries and other factories where it will be used, as well as to potential retail buyers of products containing ChemZ.<\/p>\n

Our Take<\/h3>\n

The ChemZ \u201ccase study\u201d is how new chemicals regulations should<\/em><\/strong> work. But as we pointed out in our comments on EPA\u2019s new proposed regulations<\/a> [PDF, 721KB], the agency has not properly incorporated Congress\u2019 important directive about the ways in which regulators need to be looking at the future uses of a new chemical that a company wants to make.<\/p>\n

If EPA follows its current proposed regulations, it might analyze ChemZ only under the single use that ACME provided (i.e., degreasing equipment within the confines of a factory). EPA would not review the safety of ChemZ when it\u2019s used in other, reasonably foreseeable ways in the future, or develop the necessary restrictions on it. People and the environment would be exposed to ChemZ without sufficient protections.<\/p>\n

To avoid this outcome, we urge EPA to revise its regulations to make clear that:<\/p>\n