American Chemistry Council Calls on EPA to Reverse TSCA Policy Changes

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The American Chemistry Council (ACC) is urgently calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reverse “misguided” policy changes and “get TSCA implementation back on track,” the organization says. As part of this effort, ACC issued the State of TSCA Report: Fix Implementation Now Before It Is Too Late. The Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) authorizes the EPA to regulate and screen all chemicals produced or imported into the United States to prevent unreasonable risks to health and the environment. The ACC report contains six key problems with the EPA’s approach to TSCA implementation and six key solutions the ACC proposes to get TSCA back on track.

Chemistry is inextricably linked to innovation and scientific advancements needed to accomplish a wide range of goals, the ACC points out.  

The ACC says recent “misguided” policy changes from the EPA include:

• Ignoring the existence, applicability, and jurisdiction of other federal laws, and industry’s compliance with those laws, when it evaluates the conditions of use of new and existing chemicals;
• Improperly branding entire chemicals as unsafe — even when safe uses have been identified — instead of making safety determinations on a use-by-use basis;
• Making incorrect assumptions about worker protections and workplace environments instead of using real data and exposure scenarios;
• Lacking in their approaches to use best available science and weight of the evidence;
• Stalling reviews of new chemicals, stopping new innovations from being available for use and from being manufactured in the US;
• Increasing fees with no accountability and no corresponding improvements to service.

Promoting the safe use of the essential products of chemistry is a shared responsibility of manufacturers, the government and those who use or sell chemical products, the ACC says. TSCA can either be a catalyst to addressing pressing challenges or it can create an unnecessary barrier to progress. Implementing TSCA in the sensible, risk- and science-based manner the 2016 bipartisan amendments call for is the best way to catalyze progress, according to the organization. 

This plea comes after the Environmental Protection Agency filed a proposed consent decree to reevaluate regulations on the emissions standards of synthetic organic chemical manufacturers in January.