EPA moves to tighten toxic chemicals rules

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing to tighten the chemical management laws that were criticised by their original author earlier this year for being too lax.

Administrator Lisa Jackson addressed weaknesses in the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in a speech last week, promising that moves were under way to strengthen the EPA's chemical management programme and provide regulators with greater powers to force businesses to disclose information on the chemicals they use.

Jackson outlined a number of principles designed to make the EPA more effective in administering the TSCA. First, safety standards will be based on scientific risk assessments, and manufacturers must provide the EPA with sufficient information to evaluate new chemicals against existing safety standards.

Second, in a significant move, the principles explicitly outline stricter requirements for manufacturers claiming confidential business information (CBI). Under the proposed changes, firms will be required to substantiate such claims, and they will be forbidden from labelling data relevant to health and safety as CBI.

Risk management must also take into account auxiliary issues such as sensitive sub-populations, cost, and unavailability of chemical substitutes, the EPA has said, and chemicals must be assessed in a timely manner based on relevant risk and exposure considerations.

Finally, the use of "green" sustainable chemistry and chemical processes should be encouraged, and the EPA should be given a sustained source of funding to execute its chemical management programme.

Jackson is hoping that several congressmen will take the initiative in rewriting chemical legislation in line with the reforms proposed by the EPA.

She singled out senators Barbara Boxer (CA) and Frank Lautenberg (NJ), along with representatives Bobby Rush (IL) and Henry Waxman (CA), who has been a driving force behind the House cap-and-trade bill, as potential backers for a reformed bill.

"All the legislative reform is necessary for an effective chemicals management programme, and the EPA is committed to strengthening the performance of the current programme while Congress considers new legislation," the EPA said in a statement. It has already created a shortlist of chemicals warranting further scrutiny, and will post an initial set of four action plans in December, along with further plans each quarter.

J Clarence Davies, the original architect of the TSCA, pointed to several flaws in the bill during a congressional hearing on chemical management in March. One of the criticisms levied against the legislation was its inability to cope with new developments such as nano materials. The EPA will now review how nanoscale materials are managed under the legislation, it said.