The decades-old Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has gotten an injection of new life. This past June, President Obama signed an act meant to update the old law so that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could refocus its energy on mitigating the dangers that existing chemical substances present to human health. Yesterday , as required by the amendment, the EPA released its list of the first ten chemicals it plans on assessing under the reformed TSCA. The hit list features some well known enemies like asbestos, as well as some lesser known dangers like 1,4-dioxane, a possible carcinogen from consumer products that is highly prevalent in groundwater and indoor environments.Why the TSCA Was ReformedUnlike the Clean Air and Water Acts which are partially designed to clean pollutants out of those environments, the TSCA was created in 1976 to stop toxic chemicals from entering the environment in the first place, by banning their use or encouraging industry to move to safer alternatives. It also helped regulate already existing dangerous chemicals like lead, mercury, and radon. The act had gotten a little stale over the years, however, and after public health disasters like the Flint, Michigan water crisis, it became clear that it needed to be strengthened.So in a rare display of bipartisanship, Congress passed the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act in June 2016. The wordy piece of legislation was not only a reminder to the EPA that it needed to focus on these toxic chemicals, but also acknowledged that the Agency needed more funding to do so, which Congress promises to give.The Chemical ListThe EPA was given some tight deadlines to meet under the reformed TSCA. Within 180 days of the act being signed, the Agency needed to have 10 different risk evaluations of existing chemicals underway. If any of these is eventually determined to "present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment," then the EPA is expected to take whatever actions needed to mitigate the risks within two years. The ten chemicals the EPA listed yesterday were picked due to the hazards they pose, and their potential for public exposure. Here they are:
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- 1,4-Dioxane
- 1-Bromopropane
- Asbestos
- Carbon Tetrachloride
- Cyclic Aliphatic Bromide Cluster
- Methylene Chloride
- N-methylpyrrolidone
- Pigment Violet 29
- Tetrachloroethylene, also known as perchloroethylene
- Trichloroethylene