The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the first 10 chemicals it will evaluate for potential risks to human health and the environment under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) as amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.
“Under the new law, we now have the power to require safety reviews of all chemicals in the marketplace,” says Jim Jones, assistant administrator of the of Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “We can ensure the public that we will deliver on the promise to better protect public health and the environment.”
Under the TSCA, the EPA is required to evaluate chemicals to determine whether they “present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment.” Within six months of starting the evaluation process of these first 10 chemicals, it will release a scoping document for each chemical detailing any hazards, exposures, conditions of use, and the potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations the EPA plans to consider for the evaluation. The TSCA requires chemical risk evaluations be completed within three years, and if the EPA determines a chemical presents an unreasonable risk, it must mitigate the risks within two years.
The first 10 chemicals were drawn from the EPA’s 2014 TSCA Work Plan, a list of 90 chemicals selected based on their potential for high hazard and exposure as well as other considerations. The first 10 chemicals to be evaluated are:
1,4-Dioxane
1-Bromopropane
Asbestos
Carbon Tetrachloride
Cyclic Aliphatic Bromide Cluster
Methylene Chloride
N-methylpyrrolidone
Pigment Violet 29
Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene
Trichloroethylene