United States (US) Senators, Frank R. Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) and David Vitter (R-Louisana) announced a bipartisan bill to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

The bill, known as the “Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013,” would require safety evaluations for all active chemicals, requiring them to be labeled as either “high” or “low” priority, based upon potential risk to human health and the environment. High priority chemicals would be subject to additional safety evaluations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

This presents a significant change as, under TSCA, the EPA can call for safety testing only after evidence surfaces demonstrating a chemical may be dangerous. As a result, EPA has only been able to require testing for 200 of the 84,000 chemicals currently registered in the US, and has been able to ban only five dangerous substances since TSCA was first enacted in 1976.

The bill would also:

• provide for EPA to take action – ranging from labeling to a prohibition – for chemicals found to be unsafe;
• provide for EPA to prioritize chemicals for review, assessing risk, determining safety, and applying measures to manage risk;
• in particular, the bill would require EPA to evaluate risks to vulnerable populations, such as children and pregnant women;
• require EPA to screen new chemicals entering the market for safety and allow EPA to prohibit those deemed unsafe;
• allow EPA to secure health and safety information from chemical manufacturers; and
• allow for state and local governments to provide input on prioritization, safety assessment, and the safety determination process, as well as to retain their own regulations, when circumstances warrant it.

For more on the proposed Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013, TSCA, or other chemical regulations, in the US and elsewhere, contact Compliance & Risks!