{"id":2852,"date":"2013-10-01T15:52:48","date_gmt":"2013-10-01T20:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/?p=2852"},"modified":"2014-03-25T12:49:47","modified_gmt":"2014-03-25T17:49:47","slug":"this-snur-is-not-a-snore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2013\/10\/01\/this-snur-is-not-a-snore\/","title":{"rendered":"This SNUR is not a SNORE!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/environmentaldefense.org\/page.cfm?tagID=62101\"><em>Jennifer McPartland, Ph.D.<\/em><\/a><em>,<\/em> is a Health Scientist.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">Yesterday EPA finalized a significant new use rule (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that requires manufacturers and importers of certain perfluorinated chemicals to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing any \u201csignificant new use\u201d of these chemicals.\u00a0 (See below for what EPA has designated to be a \u201csignificant new use.\u201d)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">These notifications afford EPA an opportunity to evaluate the designated new uses before they start and address any risks the new uses may pose.\u00a0 Read on to learn more about some novel aspects of this final rule, including the scope of what EPA has designated as significant new uses of these chemicals.\u00a0 <!--more--><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">This SNUR targets two types of perfluorinated chemicals:\u00a0 perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (PFAS) and long-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (LCPFAC).\u00a0\u00a0 As required under TSCA to issue a SNUR, EPA has determined that certain new or reinitiated uses of these chemicals may present an \u201cunreasonable risk\u201d to human health or the environment.\u00a0 The rule notes: \u201cPFAS and LCPFAC chemical substances are found world-wide in the environment, wildlife, and humans [detected in human blood, breast milk, and umbilical cord blood].\u00a0 They are toxic to laboratory animals, producing reproductive, developmental, and systemic effects in laboratory tests.\u201d\u00a0 (See my colleague Rachel Shaffer\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2013\/04\/30\/april-brings-showersand-a-flurry-of-new-studies-on-the-risks-of-perfluorinated-chemicals\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">blog post<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"> that highlights recent research into the risks of perfluorinated chemicals.)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">Described below are more details of the finalized SNUR:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">PFAS chemicals<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium\">EPA is amending an <\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ecfr.gov\/cgi-bin\/retrieveECFR?gp=1&amp;SID=3da131bcc7d30dfb2ce5ccbac9056ffb&amp;ty=HTML&amp;h=L&amp;r=PART&amp;n=40y32.0.1.1.11#40:32.0.1.1.11.5.1.700\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">existing PFAS SNUR <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\">\u00a0to include seven additional PFAS chemicals that were reviewed under EPA\u2019s new chemicals program but the manufacture of which has not started.\u00a0 EPA has designated any <em>new<\/em> manufacture, import, and processing of these substances as a significant new use, which must be notified to EPA at least 90 days before these activities are initiated.<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">LCPFAC chemicals<\/span>.\u00a0 With the exception of ongoing uses of two LCPFAC chemicals in after-market carpet cleaning products, EPA has designated any manufacture, import, or processing of LCPFAC substances for use in carpets or for treating carpets as a significant new use, which must be notified to EPA at least 90 days before these activities are initiated.\u00a0 In addition, the notification requirement extends to the articles themselves, covering both domestic manufacture and import of <em>carpets<\/em><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"font-size: medium\"> that contain these substances.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">There are two aspects of the SNUR to highlight.\u00a0 First, the PFAS SNUR is targeting seven chemicals whose production or import has not yet even occurred.\u00a0 That is, EPA\u2019s review of these substances has led the agency to be concerned about any potential use of these chemicals.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">Second, the LCPFAC SNUR appropriately lifts an exemption for articles that is usually applicable to SNURs.\u00a0 Translation:\u00a0 Typically SNURs apply only to chemicals and NOT to articles containing them (in this case, carpets).\u00a0 To date, EPA has lifted this exemption in only three other cases (EDF and Earthjustice submitted comments strongly supporting EPA&#8217;s proposal to lift the article exemption in pending <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2012\/07\/31\/doing-its-best-under-a-flawed-law-35-groups-file-comments-supporting-epa-efforts-to-reduce-exposure-to-toxic-flame-retardants\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">test and significant new use rules targeting the flame retardants, PBDEs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff\">)<\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000\">.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">The importance to public health of extending rules to articles is that it closes a loophole that would otherwise lead to continued exposure to chemicals subject to restrictions on production and import, by allowing their use in articles being imported into the U.S.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">For more on why EPA took this action, see the agency\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.epa.gov\/epaconnect\/2013\/09\/carpet-loophole\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;font-family: Calibri;font-size: medium\">blog post<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size: medium\"><span style=\"color: #000000\"><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jennifer McPartland, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist. Yesterday EPA finalized a significant new use rule (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that requires manufacturers and importers of certain perfluorinated chemicals to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing any \u201csignificant new use\u201d of these chemicals.\u00a0 (See below for what EPA has designated &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,56096],"tags":[5019,68,39156,39178],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policy","category-omboira","tag-consumer-products","tag-epa","tag-persistant-bioaccumulative-and-toxic-pbt","tag-significant-new-use-rule-snur"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2852"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}