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05 Apr
EPA declassified confidentiality claims in a batch of 42 health and safety studies (mostly 8(e) notices of substantial risk) March 24, 2011, following through on their promise of transparency.
Certainly there are some old claims out there that are no longer valid (many on what was at the time R&D activity that has either gone commercial or died). And some claims were pretty bogus to begin with. But the idea of going back and having to re-substantiate the thousands of claims that have been made over the last 35 years – holy cow! Believe it or not, some of the claims will still be valid (just like the secret ingredients of Coke). -
EPA announced it has rejected confidentiality claims for chemical identity of 14 chemicals in health and safety studies under TSCA. The agency is narrowly interpreting TSCA to only allow limited claims of confidential business information (CBI) especially for chemical identity in studies. It remains to be seen if companies can justify some of their claims.
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29 Sep
Steven Owens, Administrator at the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, responsible for implementing the Toxic Substances Control Act says TSCA is:
“… a kind of blob out there.”
[quote from a conference call with the American Bar Association Sept. 16, 2010, reported in Toxics Regulation News Sept. 29, 2010. He was contrasting it with the pesticides programs at EPA and FDA where “There is a lot of back and forth between the agency and companies. It’s well-funded, highly technical and there are deadlines and accountability.”] -
18 Aug