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On January 22, 2025, in a House Subcommittee on the Environment hearing, the president of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) urged Congress to immediately make specific improvements to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) program to end industry uncertainty. The hearing, titled “A Decade Later: Assessing the Legacy and Impact of the Frank R. Lautenberg […]
On January 14, 2025, the EPA released the final risk evaluation for diisononyl phthalate (DINP), which was conducted under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The EPA concluded that DINP presents an unreasonable risk of injury to human health because workers could be exposed to high concentrations of DINP in mist when spraying adhesive, sealant, […]
The EPA recently announced it has proposed its eighth rule under the new Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) process to protect workers from inhalation exposure to C.I. Pigment Violet 29 (PV29), a chemical that presents a risk of lung damage. If finalized, the rule would require respiratory protection and cleaning programs in workplaces where PV29 […]
On December 9, 2024, the EPA announced it finalized the latest risk management rules for trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE) under the 2016 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) amendments. TCE is an extremely toxic chemical known to cause liver cancer, kidney cancer, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It also causes damage to the central nervous system, liver, […]
On January 15, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) terminated its healthcare COVID-19 rulemaking (90 Fed. Reg. 3665). The agency decided to focus its resources on developing an infectious diseases rulemaking for healthcare, describing the infectious diseases rulemaking as “the most effective and efficient use of agency resources” for protecting healthcare workers from occupational […]
On December 20, 2024, a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Confidential Business Information (CBI) Rule “is unlawful insofar as it requires entities reporting by non-confidential accession numbers and without knowledge of the underlying chemical identity to assert CBI claims for the underlying chemical identity in order to maintain the chemical identity’s confidentiality.” […]
The American Chemistry Council’s (ACC) Formaldehyde Panel sent a detailed letter, dated November 4, 2024, to the EPA to bring its attention to “the substantial comments submitted to the EPA from a diverse group of stakeholders and peer reviewers raising major issues with the EPA’s 2024 draft formaldehyde risk assessment.” The ACC alleges the Biden […]
The EPA recently announced a proposal to designate five chemicals as high-priority substances (HPS) for risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the nation’s chemical safety law. If the designations are finalized as proposed, the Agency will immediately move forward with risk evaluations on the chemicals. “Studying the safety of these harmful chemicals […]
On March 21, 2024, a federal appeals court ruled the EPA overstepped its authority in ordering Inhance Technologies, LLC, to stop producing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) during the fluorination of plastic containers. Background On December 1, 2023, the EPA issued orders to Inhance, a Houston-based plastics treatment company, directing it not to produce PFAS […]
The EPA recently released the draft risk evaluation for formaldehyde under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for public comment and peer review. Formaldehyde is a colorless, flammable gas at room temperature and has a strong odor. It’s also found nearly everywhere. People and animals produce and release formaldehyde, and it’s produced when organic materials […]