Toxics

EPA efforts to expand toxic chemical regulations and reform its risk-assessment process, as well as the debate over revising the Toxic Substances Control Act, are just some of the topics featured in our Toxics section.

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EPA efforts to expand toxic chemical regulations and reform its risk-assessment process, as well as the debate over revising the Toxic Substances Control Act, are just some of the topics featured in our Toxics section.

Medical device makers press lawmakers to drop PFAS measures

Medical device manufacturers are urging House and Senate leaders of the Armed Services committees, who will be resolving differences in each chambers’ defense authorization bills, to strike three House amendments requiring EPA to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), another sign of opposition from industry groups opposed to the new requirements. The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) sent an Aug. 27 letter , first reported by Politico , to the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees urging...

EPA issues small business guide on methylene chloride ban

EPA has issued guidance to aid small business as they work to comply with the agency’s recent ban on consumer uses of paint strippers containing methylene chloride, though it is not clear whether the guidance will address charges from manufacturers that the ban may make it difficult for some small entities to continue to purchase the products. EPA Sept. 4 issued a guidance document , “Small Entity Compliance Guidance for the Regulation of Methylene Chloride,” that largely reiterates deadlines and...

Despite GOP Calls, EPA Delays IRIS Handbook Amid Fight Over TSCA Method

Despite calls from GOP lawmakers and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), EPA appears to have buried the handbook describing how its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program conducts its risk analyses as officials in the research and toxics offices battle over a key assessment method and a system for characterizing non-cancer risks. An April 2019 version of the handbook, obtained exclusively by Inside EPA , describes the IRIS program’s approach to conducting its assessments, including its method for conducting...

House coalition pushes for PFAS measures

A bipartisan group of 162 House lawmakers, more than one-third of the chamber, is urging defense bill conferees to back a host of measures that would advance policies and regulations on perfluorinated chemicals, signaling a major push to secure even those measures that were expected to spark a conflict between the two chambers during conferencing. In a Sept. 3 letter , the lawmakers urged leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees to support a series of amendments, including...

Industry Battle Brews Over Calls For Narrow PFAS Liability Waivers

Chemical manufacturers and other industrial waste generators are signaling they plan to fight efforts by water utilities, airport operators and other groups that are seeking narrow, sector-specific waivers from cleanup liability should policymakers list per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law. “3M is not aware of a compelling reason to create exemptions from [Superfund’s] existing liability provisions,” says a spokeswoman for the Minnesota-based chemical giant, which was an early manufacturer of the chemicals. While industry...

POTWs’ Legal Uncertainty Drives Fear Over PFAS Superfund Designation

As Congress weighs defense authorization legislation that would designate perfluorinated chemicals as hazardous substances under the Superfund law, wastewater utilities are opposing the language, fearing it would impose significant liability due to the presence of the chemicals in the biosolids they generate. Some industry officials say they are seeking to kill the House-passed amendment, which would require EPA to declare within one year that all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and...

Democrats query EPA’s approval of antibiotics on citrus

Several Democratic lawmakers are questioning EPA’s decision to allow the emergency use of a pair of important antibiotics used to treat human infections on citrus trees in California and Florida, urging the agency to reconsider the decision in light of warnings from other agencies that their agricultural use will speed antibacterial resistance in humans. “EPA appears to have pursued these proposals despite warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that...

Advisors Frustrated By Lack Of EPA Data On Science Transparency Rule

EPA’s science advisors are expressing frustration over the agency’s failure to provide adequate information over its controversial proposal requiring that only research whose underlying data is publicly available can be used for regulatory purposes, warning at a recent meeting that the officials’ failure may prevent them from providing advice. “The implications simply aren’t clear; the proposals could result in perverse outcomes. That lack of clarity makes it hard for us to take something so ill-defined and have a good outcome...

As EWG Details Industry’s PFAS Findings, DuPont Fortifies Cleanup Pledges

Environmentalists have compiled a suite of documents that could bolster a House Democrat’s suggestion that chemical companies continued to produce and sell per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances’ (PFAS) despite knowing the health risks just as one of those companies, DuPont, is strengthening its pledge to remediate any contamination and curb risks. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) Aug. 28 released a dossier of documents that the group says chronicle decades of studies that PFAS manufacturers DuPont and 3M undertook but kept out...

EPA Weighs Industry Risk Analysis Requests, Raising New TSCA Tests

EPA is seeking comment on a pair of chemical industry requests asking the agency to assess the risks of two phthalate chemicals, requests that will pose first-time tests for the agency on whether and how it conducts such analysis under the revised toxics law and whether any negative EPA risk finding preempts existing state and federal requirements. EPA published in the August 19 Federal Register two notices seeking public comment on manufacturers’ requests for the agency to assess di-isodecyl...

Science Advisors Query Narrow Scope Of EPA’s 1BP TSCA Assessment

EPA’s advisors are again criticizing the scope of the agency’s chemical evaluations, this time for its exclusion of general population exposures to the chemical 1-bromopropane (1BP) from its analysis of the substance’s risks -- a decision the agency made because it is weighing an industry petition to list the substance as a hazardous air pollutant (HAP). “I’m still concerned and need more clarification about the general population exposure and how we are pushing that off to the other aspects of...

PEER Petitions EPA To Phase Out Refiners’ Use Of Hydrogen Fluoride

A government watchdog group is petitioning EPA to phase out the use of hydrogen fluoride (HF) at oil refining facilities under its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and Clean Air Act (CAA) authorities, the latest in a series of actions to curb the use of the highly corrosive substance following several “near miss” incidents. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which represents state and federal environmental professionals, filed an Aug. 7 petition urging EPA “to promulgate regulations pursuant to TSCA...

California tightens PFOA, PFOS reporting guidelines

The California water board is strengthening its guidelines for local water agencies to follow in detecting and reporting the presence of two of the most commonly found per- and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS) in drinking water, while launching the process for crafting enforceable standards for regulating the chemicals in drinking water. The state’s Water Resources Control Board (WRCB) Aug. 23 announced issuance of updated guidelines that lower current notification levels for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in drinking water, from...

EPA proposes 20 high priority chemicals for TSCA evaluation

EPA has formally proposed the next 20 existing chemicals it will assess under its new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) authority, a list that is unchanged from the 20 high priority candidates EPA announced it was placing into its prioritization process last March and which environmentalists have warned violates the law. The 20 chemicals include several phthalates, some flame retardants and formaldehyde, which EPA is proposing to designate as high priority to add to its chemical evaluation agenda under its...

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