User:Pattessm/Sandbox

TSCA and the EPA

The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 mandated the EPA to protect the public from "unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment" by regulating the manufacture and sale of chemicals. This Act does not address wastes produced as byproduct of manufacturing, as did the Clean Water and Air Acts of the era. Instead, this Act attempted to exert direct government control over which types of chemicals could and could not be used in actual use and production. For example, the use of chlorofluorocarbons in manufacturing is now strictly prohibited in all manufacturing processes in the United States, even if no chlorofluorocarbons are released into the atmosphere as a result. The types chemicals regulated by the Act fall into two broad categories: new and existing. Existing chemicals were defined as “any chemical substance which is not included in the chemical substance list compiled and published under [TSCA] section 8(b).” This list included of all chemical substances manufactured or imported into the United States prior to December, 1979. This existing chemical list covered 99% of the EPA's mandate in this bill, , including some 8,800 chemicals imported or produced at quantities above 10,000 pounds. New chemicals include any chemical not currently listed under section 8(b). This distinction between existing and new chemicals is necessary, as the Act regulates each category of chemical in different ways.

Regulation of Existing Chemicals

Though tasked with protecting the public from dangerous and potentially carcinogenic substances, some 62,000 chemicals were never tested by the EPA because they were not considered an "unreasonable risk." This gap in testing effectively "grandfathered" these chemicals into the TSCAs existing chemicals list. Testing and research on these chemicals is virtually non-existent, with only 200 of the over 60,000 existing chemicals tested directly by the EPA.
The EPA has had only limited success controlling the chemicals they have tested and deemed dangerous to the public health. In fact, the agency has been successful in restricting only five chemicals (PCBs, chlorofluorocarbons, dioxin, asbestos, and hexavalent chronmium) in its 35 year history, and the ban on asbestos was overturned in 1991. Many environmental groups, such as Natural Resources Defense Council, complain that the EPA is nearly powerless to take regulatory action against dangerous chemicals, even those known to cause cancer or other serious health effects.

Regulation of New Chemicals

The EPA has a better record when regulating newly created chemicals. Companies must first notify the EPA of their intention to manufacture a new chemical not listed in the 1976 Act chemical by using a Pre-Manufacturing Notice (PMN.) No safety information is required to be included in the PMN, so the EPA must rely on computer modeling to determine the if the new chemical "may prevent an unreasonable risk." If the EPA does not act to block manufacture of the new chemical within ninety days, or the EPA passes the product, the chemical may be legally marketed. The lack of safety data from the PMNs has not led to a lack of regulation for new chemicals, and only 50% of new chemicals pass EPA testing procedures.

Primary User's Checklist

Stefan Wawzyniecki, author of "TSCA compliance options: Easy to be hard" compiled a checklist for companies to see if they must comply with the rules and regulations as defined by the TSCA:

• Do you or anyone in your organization bring ‘new’ chemicals (in other words, chemicals NOT on the TSCA inventory list) into the country?

• Do you or anyone in your organization purchase ‘new’ chemicals, either from domestic or foreign vendors?

• Do you, or anyone who will admit to it, ship a ‘new’ chemical to another researcher, either in the U.S., or to a foreign country?

Users answering yes to the above questions should consult the TSCA to insure compliance to the law.

Future of the TSCA

Several lawmakers are currently

List of references for the Toxic Substances Control act of 1976

http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Toxic+Substances+Control+Act+%28TSCA%29
http://cei.org/op-eds-articles/toxic-consensus-toxic-substances
Controlling Toxic Substances.

Key issues in reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976.

The USEPA and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976: The Promise, the Reality, and the Reason(s) Why.

Toxic Substance Control Act: Preparing for the inventory update rule.

POSSIBLE CHANGES TO TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT ECHO ROHS.

Pushing the Environmental Regulatory Focus a Step Back: Controlling the Introduction of New Chemicals Under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Toxic Substance Control Act: Preparing for the inventory update rule.

TSCA compliance options—Easy to be hard.

Congressional Digest http://www.congressionaldigest.com/debate-topics/issue-detail.asp?id=333