EPA Action Plan For HBCD, NPE Under TSCA and EPCRA

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released action plans to address the potential health risks of benzidine dyes, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and nonylphenol (NP)/nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs). The chemicals are widely used in both consumer and industrial applications, including dyes, flame retardants, and industrial laundry detergents. The plans identify a range of actions the agency is considering under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

The range of actions on these chemicals include adding HBCD and NP/NPE to EPA’s new Chemicals of Concern list, issuing significant new use rules for all three chemicals, and, for HBCD and benzidine dyes, imposing new reporting requirements on EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory and potentially banning or limiting the manufacture or use of the chemicals.

In addition to EPA actions, the Textile Rental Services Association has committed to voluntarily phase out the use of NPEs in industrial liquid detergents by Dec. 31, 2013 and industrial powder detergents by the end of 2014.

EPA first announced that it planned to develop the Chemicals of Concern list last December, which indicates that the chemicals may present an unreasonable risk of injury to health and the environment, under a previously unused TSCA authority.

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Aldicarb Phase Out Agreement

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Bayer CropScience, the manufacturer, have reached an agreement to end use of the pesticide aldicarb in the United States. A new risk assessment conducted by EPA based on recently submitted toxicity data indicates that aldicarb, an N-methyl carbamate insecticide, no longer meets the agency’s food safety standards and may pose unacceptable dietary risks.

To address the most significant risks, Bayer has agreed first to end aldicarb use on citrus and potatoes and will adopt risk mitigation measures for other uses to protect groundwater resources. New measures to protect shallow drinking water wells in vulnerable areas of the southeastern U.S. coastal plain and lower application rates will be immediately added to product labels for use on cotton, soybeans, and peanuts.

The company will voluntarily phase out production of aldicarb by December 31, 2014. All remaining aldicarb uses will end no later than August 2018. Additionally, EPA plans to revoke the tolerances associated with these commodities.

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Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act

The Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act became effective July 7, 2010. It amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to make the formaldehyde emission standard contained in the California Code of Regulations applicable to hardwood plywood, medium-density fiberboard, and particleboard sold, supplied, offered for sale, or manufactured in the US. The Act directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promulgate implementing regulations that ensure compliance equivalent to compliance with the California standard, including provisions relating to labeling, chain of custody requirements, sell-through provisions, ultra low-emitting formaldehyde resins, no-added formaldehyde-based resins, finished goods, third-party testing and certification, auditing and reporting of third-party certifiers, recordkeeping, and enforcement.

The Act also requires the EPA, by July 1, 2011, in coordination with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to revise regulations promulgated under TSCA concerning import certification of any chemical substance, mixture, or article containing a chemical substance or mixture as necessary to ensure compliance with this Act.

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Safe Chemicals Act of 2010 - Overview

The Safe Chemicals Act has been introduced by Senator Lautenberg, chair of the Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics, and Environmental Health, which would amend the existing Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Some of the key provisions of the proposed law include:

• Requires manufacturers to develop and submit a minimum data set for each chemical they produce, and provides EPA with authority to require any data beyond the minimum data set needed to determine safety of a chemical.
• Requires EPA to categorize and prioritize chemicals, based on their hazard and exposure characteristics. EPA would identify and prioritize chemicals by their likely risk, based on anticipated use, production volume, toxicity, persistence, bioaccumulation, and other properties that indicate risk.
• Requires expedited action to reduce the use of or exposures to chemicals of highest concern.
• Requiring all chemicals to be shown to be safe in order to remain in or enter commerce, with the burden of proof safety resting on chemical manufacturers and users.
• Establishes a public database that will house both chemical information submitted to EPA and decisions made by EPA about chemicals, and narrows the conditions under which data submitted by industry can be claimed to be confidential business information (CBI).
• Requires EPA to establish a program to develop market and other incentives for safer alternatives, and a research grant program targeted at priority hazardous chemicals for which alternatives do not presently exist.
  

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