HR 5820 Toxic Chemicals Safety Act of 2010: Reporting, reporting and more reporting: TSCA reformers want to squeeze companies for all the data they can as soon as they can. Who is making and using every chemical for what and how much? What are all the physical/chemical properties and toxicity data, exposure info, and life cycle byproducts identified? And they want all this information to be immediately reported again if there is any significant new information. EPA is given and expected to execute broad authority via "safety standards" which will set restrictions to ensure that aggregate and cumulative exposures to vulnerable populations throughout a product’s life cycle will cause no harm. Of course, to do that do that the agency needs to know everything and will be given authority to collect it under this bill.
The burden will be on companies to prove their products are safe by proving the negative (always a frustrating, never-ending challenge) of a “reasonable certainty that no harm” to anyone is associated with their products.
Wow. Wouldn’t perfect knowledge and perfect control be wonderful? But does the bill really require?
There are lot of summaries out there on the bill (House summary, Sidley), but I thought I’d tackle it from the standpoint of a company trying to figure out what it might have to do under the bill as currently written and what the implications are to the company beyond what it has to do today. I’ve broken up the analysis into a series of scenarios by type of company activity:
Chemical Manufacturer or Importer:
Scenario A. Company manufactures an existing chemical for the same uses as it has for a number of years. The chemical isn’t on anybody’s concern list
Scenario B: Company begins to manufacture a chemical that has been in commerce for years for the first time and for the same use as others have done
Scenario C: Company begins to manufacture or process a chemical it has declared for a use that was not included in its previous declaration (whether or not anyone else had declared the use). The chemical isn’t on a concern list (yet).
Scenario D: Company has invented a new to the US chemical and wants to begin commercial manufacture.
Scenario E: Company already manufactures a chemical that becomes subject to a new safety standard.
Scenario G: Company wants to begin using or selling a one of its manufactured chemical for a use not listed in a safety standard.
Chemical Processor:
Scenario H: Company processes an existing chemical for the same uses as it has for a number of years. The chemical isn’t on anybody’s concern list (yet).
Scenario I: Company begins to process a chemical that has been in commerce for years for the first time and for the same use as others have done. The chemical isn’t on anybody’s concern list (yet).
Scenario J: Company begins to process a chemical it has declared for a use that was not included in its previous declaration (whether or not anyone else had declared the use). The chemical isn’t on anybody’s concern list (yet).
Scenario K:. Company processes a chemical that is subject to a new safety standard.
I’ll post my thoughts on batches of these scenarios and related issue areas in separate blogs titled "HR 5820 Implications: ...." First up: HR 5820 Implications for Chemical Manufacturers