Chemical security

US chemical regulations finally updated

The effort to reform the 40-year-old law that governs the regulation of chemicals in the US has faced many false starts, especially over the last year, but now finally President Obama’s signature enacting a law to update the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is imminent.

The bill came to the Senate floor on the evening on 7 June by unanimous consent and passed on a voice vote, after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the same legislation by 403-12 on 24 May. The President has made his support for the legislation clear.

The updated TSCA gives the EPA significantly more power and responsibilities, including the authority to require health and safety data for untested chemicals. The bill also sets mandatory and enforceable deadlines for the EPA to act to regulate chemicals of concern, and it gives industry a pathway to prioritise approval of new chemicals before they reach the market as well as protection over proprietary information.

The legislation is not only bipartisan, having earned the votes of bitter political enemies on this issue, it has also managed to attract the enthusiastic support of the chemical industry and a significant portion of the environmental lobby.

The American Chemistry Council’s president and CEO, Cal Dooley, said the TSCA reform bill is significant not only because it is the first major environmental law passed since 1990, but also because it will benefit US manufacturers, American families and the nation’s standing as the world’s leading innovator.