The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) as amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, requires EPA to publish by December 19, 2016, a list of chemicals for review. Today, EPA announced the first ten chemicals it will evaluate for potential risks to human health and the environment under TSCA.The ten chemicals were drawn from EPA’s 2014 list of 90 chemicals with potential for high hazard and exposure, as well as other considerations.
Among the chemicals on the list are asbestos, the synthetic industrial chemical dioxane, the solvent methylene chloride, the dry cleaning substance tetrachloroethylene, and the solvent 1-Bromopropane.
When the list is published in the Federal Register it will trigger a statutory deadline to complete risk evaluations for these chemicals within three years. This evaluation will determine whether the chemicals present an unreasonable risk to humans and the environment. If it is determined that a chemical presents an unreasonable risk, EPA must mitigate that risk within two years.
