Industry News

Senator Lautenberg Introduces Chemical Safety Legislation

April 18, 2011


On Thursday, April 14, 2011, Senator Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, which is designed to update the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. The Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 is a revised version of the Safe Chemicals Act of 2010, which did not make it through the 111th Congress. The 2011 version takes into account feedback solicited during hearings on the 2010 bill.

 

The Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 significantly increases the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate potentially toxic chemicals and puts the burden of proof to demonstrate the safety of chemicals on the manufacturer. In particular, the new legislation would require safety testing of all industrial chemicals in order for them to stay on the market.  Under current legislation, the EPA can only call for safety testing after evidence arises demonstrating that a chemical is dangerous. The chief environmental regulator has currently mandated testing on only approximately 200 of the more than 80,000 chemicals used in the United States, which has led to banning 5 of those chemicals. The new legislation would require all industrial chemicals made, imported, or sold in the United States to undergo safety testing. In addition, the EPA would gain increased authority to regulate toxic chemicals and to take rapid action to reduce risk from chemicals proven dangerous.

Under the new legislation, manufacturers would be required to provide to the EPA data sets for each chemical they produce and the EPA would have the authority to request additional information as needed to determine if the chemicals are safe. Chemical manufacturers would also be required to identify all market uses for their chemicals and to provide the relevant safety information for these uses. The EPA would be responsible for creating a public database to catalog the incoming chemical information and the EPA’s safety determinations. Furthermore, the legislation calls on the EPA to categorize chemicals based on risk and to focus resources on chemicals considered the most likely to cause harm.  Additionally, the new legislation would establish a grant program and research centers to foster the development of safe chemical alternatives and to bring some new chemicals onto the market through an expedited review process.

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