Earlier this year, Congress enacted a major overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”), the primary federal statute that regulates the chemicals that are used to manufacture products, requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) to identify chemicals for additional regulation expeditiously. TSCA Reform will bring significant changes that could impact a broad array of manufacturers, underscoring the need to monitor the implementation of this new law to assess carefully the impact and, when necessary, attempt to mitigate the chances of EPA prohibiting or restricting the uses of chemicals that are necessary to make various products. On October 11, 2016 EPA took an important first step, selecting five chemicals for “expedited action” based their persistence, bioaccumlative properties, and toxicity: Decabromodiphenyl ethers, Hexachlorobutadiene, Pentachlorothiophenol, Tris(4-isopropylphenyl) phosphate, and 2,4,6-Tris(tert-butyl) phenol) . EPA also will continue to address the risks already identified from trichloroethylene, methylene chloride, and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) in products, with deadlines ranging from October of this year to December 2017. Additionally, EPA must select “high-priority” substances to evaluate their health or environmental risks — the first group of 10 chemicals will be targeted before the end of this year.
An article detailing the major impacts of TSCA Reform on manufacturers, authored by Christopher J. Townsend of IMA member law firm Clark Hill PLC, will be published in Fall issue of The Illinois Manufacturer. For more information, contact Christopher Townsend at CTownsend@ClarkHill.com or 312-517-7555.
