U.S. EPA just announced core principles that outline the President’s goals for Congressional reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA):
- Chemicals should be reviewed against risk-based safety standards based on sound science and protective of human health and the environment;
- Manufacturers should provide EPA with the necessary information to conclude that new and existing chemicals are safe and do not endanger public health or the environment;
- EPA should have clear authority to take risk management actions when chemicals do not meet the safety standard, with flexibility to take into account sensitive subpopulations, costs, social benefits, equity and other relevant considerations;
- Manufacturers and EPA should assess and act on priority chemicals, both existing and new, in a timely manner;
- Green Chemistry should be encouraged and provisions assuring Transparency and Public Access to Information should be strengthened; and
- EPA should be given a sustained source of funding for implementation.
These are certainly very broad principles. However, the tone of these principles and the comments supporting same signal that the President supports revisions to TSCA that will make it look more like REACH than like an updated version of TSCA. One of the more detailed goals specifically calls for stricter requirements before information can be deemed confidential, an inability to treat data “relevant to health and safety” as confidential, and an increased ability for the EPA to share such information with other governments. The actual draft legislation is currently expected to be introduced next month.