Overview
Steptoe partner Michael Boucher was quoted in a Chemical Watch News & Insight article, "TSCA reform bill includes expected changes, with some surprises." The article analyzes the US House Republicans' newly released discussion draft of a bill to significantly revise the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), including proposed changes intended to accelerate EPA's reviews of new chemicals and reshape several core elements of the existing chemicals program.
In commenting on the draft legislation's proposed updates to TSCA section 5, Michael noted that the changes "would be to speed up EPA’s processing of section 5 notices, make the outcomes of reviews more predictable for all stakeholders [and] minimize or avoid the unnecessary regulation of use scenarios that are not likely to occur." He added that the updates could "reduce the current statutory bias against new chemical technologies developed to replace legacy chemicals."
The discussion draft also touches on changes to TSCA definitions. As Chemical Watch reports, although some stakeholders have previously called for more expansive updates to TSCA section 3, Michael observed that such "extensive additions and changes" appear to have largely been left out of the current proposal.
Read more at Chemical Watch (subscription required).
