In the 40 years between enactment of the original Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in 1976 and its 2016 amendments, EPA regulated less than 1% of the existing chemicals on the market. EPA was even unable to ban cancer-causing chemicals like asbestos, part of the reason Congress updated TSCA to make it easier for regulators … Continue reading EPA’s failure to properly implement TSCA puts lives at risk
Six years have passed since Congress updated the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), yet EPA still does not have an appropriate method for conducting systematic reviews of chemical risks - the method by which EPA evaluates potential health harms - which is critical to protecting the public’s health. This is the clear conclusion taken from … Continue reading EPA must improve its TSCA systematic review method, scientific review says again
In the recent ProPublica article, “She’s Supposed to Protect Americans from Toxic Chemicals. First, She Has to Fix Trump’s Mess and Decades of Neglect,” Dr. Michal Freedhoff, PhD, EPA’s head of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) said: “You can’t ask companies to spend a bunch of money producing data that already … Continue reading EPA can require chemical companies to provide data on PFAS risks. Why isn’t it?
When reviewing long, technical EPA science documents it helps to have an idea of what to look for. If you begin on page 1 and read everything in order, you may never get to some of the most critical content. The buried details can ultimately determine whether EPA’s actions will protect people’s health or leave … Continue reading EPA needs to fix its rules for identifying health effects under TSCA
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to use methods “consistent with the best available science" to evaluate scientific evidence on chemical health risks. These methods are critical because they shape EPA’s decision-making on chemicals evaluated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which has profound implications for public health. In 2018, EPA released its … Continue reading “I swear I’ve changed” – US EPA
Exposures to industrial chemicals and their health consequences remain a preventable source of occupational disease, with workers suffering more than 190,000 illnesses and 50,000 deaths annually related to chemical exposures, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). However, the occupational health community has not yet fully engaged with implementation of an important … Continue reading Occupational health professionals key to TSCA protections
House Committee on Science, Space & Technology Chair Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson sent a letter to EPA chief Michael Regan asking the Agency when it will update its systematic review methodology – the method used to evaluate chemicals risks - under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). PRHE has been working to ensure EPA uses validated systematic review … Continue reading Holding EPA accountable for its scientific methods
Is EPA giving itself enough time to evaluate the safety of chemicals and protect health? Or is the Agency’s planned process to gather data for risk evaluations on chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), called the “Tiered Data Reporting Rule,” giving harmful substances a “pass” by running out the clock? When TSCA was … Continue reading Running out the TSCA clock could give hazardous chemicals a “pass”
Implementation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) does not fully account for science or protect the public’s health, so how can EPA strengthen implementation of the law? The Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) has closely monitored EPA’s TSCA implementation, submitting public comments on how inadequate … Continue reading 5 years after TSCA reform – Why EPA must prioritize science to protect public health
NAS Recommends EPA Adopt PRHE’s Navigation Guide and Other Scientifically Rigorous Methods to Evaluate Chemical Risks SAN FRANCISCO - UCSF’s Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment’s (PRHE) systematic review method called the Navigation Guide was recommended by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Report, “The Use of Systematic Review in EPA’s … Continue reading National Academies of Sciences issues scathing rebuke of EPA’s TSCA systematic review method
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