The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed that companies be required to report to the agency all new uses, including domestic or imported products, of five groups of potentially harmful chemicals. The chemicals have been used in consumer products and industrial applications, including paints, printing inks, pigments and dyes in textiles, flame retardants in flexible foams and plasticizers.
The five chemicals EPA is targeting are polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs), benzidine dyes, a short-chain chlorinated paraffin, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), and phthalate di-n-pentyl phthalate (DnPP). The EPA is also proposing additional testing on the health and environmental effects of PBDEs.
“Although a number of these chemicals are no longer manufactured in the U.S., they can still be imported in consumer goods or for use in products. This proposed action will ensure that EPA has an opportunity to review new uses of the chemicals, whether they are domestically produced or imported and, if warranted, take action to prohibit or limit the activity before human health or environmental effects can occur,” says Jim Jones, EPA’s acting assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
The proposed regulatory actions are known as significant new use rules (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The proposed rules would require that anyone who intends to manufacture, import or process any of the chemicals for an activity that is designated as a significant new use to submit a notification to EPA at least 90 days before beginning the activity. This notification means EPA can evaluate the intended new use and take action to prohibit or limit that activity, if warranted. For PBDEs, the agency will also issue, simultaneously, a proposed test rule under section 4a of TSCA that would require manufacturers or processors to conduct testing on health and environmental effects of PBDEs.
The proposed SNURs were identified in action plans the agency issued on these and other chemicals during the last two years. Information on these chemical-specific rules and the agency’s action plans, including additional actions under consideration or development, can be found at www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals.