Insights from TSCA Reform: a Case for Identifying New Emerging Contaminants

Federal and state environmental agencies regulate chemicals under a variety of environmental laws. The Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (LCSA) amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in 2016, and this update provides a mechanism by which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) can regulate chemicals used by industry in order to prevent or limit exposures to chemicals. In particular, TSCA requires USEPA to assess the risk of injury to human health or the environment from exposure to chemicals identified as active. USEPA is currently assessing 10 chemicals and recently identified another 20 high priority and 20 low priority chemicals for evaluation. These risk evaluations, which may reflect new toxicological data, may identify new dose-response factors that change our understanding of the toxicity of many chemicals. This could result in either restrictions to chemical use, new cleanup standards, or more stringent cleanup standards. In this article, the authors review the process for identifying high priority chemicals and make predictions for the next set of emerging chemicals. Regulation of these chemicals could lead to a requirement for process changes as well as identify additional chemicals for evaluation at hazardous waste sites.