UPDATE: EPA To Require Safety Testing Of 19 Widely Used Chemicals PDF Print E-mail

The Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that new federal rules will require makers or importers of 19 chemicals to test the health and environmental effects of the substances and make the information public.

The chemicals include diphenylmethanone, which is used in personal-care and other consumer products; 9, 10-anthracenedione, used to make dyes; C12-C24 chloroalkenes, which are used in metal fabrication; pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN, which is used for demolition; and leuco sulfur black, used for fingerprinting.

The American Chemistry Council, an industry group, supports the action as an extension of an existing EPA program in which chemical makers have been voluntarily reporting health and environmental effects of heavily used chemicals, said Scott Jenson, a spokesman.

"We think it's part of good product stewardship," Jenson said.

The EPA's move comes as the European Union proceeds with 2007 regulations aimed at removing chemicals found to be toxic to human health or the environment from consumer products and replacing them with non-toxic substances, and as California regulators finalize similar "green chemistry" rules.

"This chemical data reporting will provide EPA with critical information to better evaluate any potential risks from these chemicals that are being produced in large quantities in this country," Steve Owens, assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said in a statement.

The 19 chemicals are among more than 2,200 chemicals produced or imported in the U.S. in large volumes every year. In recent years, the EPA has asked chemical makers and importers to voluntarily provide information to the public on health and environmental effects of potentially toxic chemicals that they make or import in quantities of one million pounds a year or more.

Source from: WSJ

 
 

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