The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics, and Environmental Health held a joint hearing yesterday, entitled “Oversight Hearing on the Federal Toxic Substances Control Act.”
The Senators heard testimony from Lisa Jackson, head of EPA; John Stephenson, Director of Natural Resources and Environment for GAO; and Linda Birnbaum, head of NIEHS and the National Toxicology Program.
Administrator Jackson argued that the Toxic Substances Control Act is in urgent need of reform because of “troubling gaps” in knowledge about many chemicals that have come into wide use since. She asserted that manufacturers of various “grandfathered” chemicals weren’t required to develop and produce the data on toxicity and exposure that are needed to properly and fully assess potential risks. [In a bit of drama, EPA’s Jackson was asked about some of the troubling emails recently disclosed about the apparent concerted effort of some to quash any scientific dissent to an aggressive view of global warming.]
The American Chemistry Council has noted that updating the legislation in certain respects made good sense, favoring a comprehensive approach, rather than the current patchwork of state and federal laws governing chemicals.
GAO’s representative testified that TSCA generally places the burden of obtaining data about existing chemicals on EPA rather than on chemical companies. For example, the act requires EPA to demonstrate certain health or environmental risks before it can require companies to further test their chemicals. As a result, EPA does not routinely assess the risks of the over 83,000 chemicals already in use. Moreover, TSCA does not require chemical companies to test the approximately 700 new chemicals introduced into commerce each year for toxicity, and companies generally do not voluntarily perform such testing.
Dr. Birnbaum encouraged Congress to call for utilization of the new kind of toxicological testing that is less expensive and also gives an improved understanding of the actual effects of chemicals on humans. Toxicology is advancing from a mostly observational science using disease-specific models, she said, to a better, predictive science focused upon a broad inclusion of target-specific, mechanism-based, biological observations. This means using alternative assays targeting the key pathways, molecular events, or processes linked to disease or injury, and incorporating them into a research and testing framework.
Democratic legislators, including Sen. Lautenberg (D-NJ) have called for increased requirements for chemicals testing, and that “It’s time to sound the alarm.” In an attempt to respond to industry concerns, Lautenberg argued that stronger regulations would somehow protect chemical companies from product liability suits—an ironic assertion at best as Democrats actively work to overturn express preemption for medical devices and extol the Wyeth v. Levine decision restricting implied preemption of drugs.
Of particular concern to readers of MassTortDefense would be efforts to eliminate the current risk-based review system under TSCA and force EPA to use the so-called precautionary principle.
It seems more supportable that any overhaul of TSCA should include the notion that scientific reviews must use data and methods based on the best available science and risk-based assessment; must include cost-benefit considerations for the private-sector and consumers; must protect proprietary business information, and should logically prioritize reviews for existing chemicals.