In an article published on January 9, 2017 by the technology magazine Wired, Megan Molteni reports on the reformed U.S. chemicals regulation, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and the consequences of the new law for the chemical industry. On June 22, 2016 the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act (LCSA), the reform bill modernizing TSCA, was signed into law (FPF reported). According to Molteni, “the number of new chemical substances approved by federal regulators has dropped by half” since the enactment of the TSCA reform. Under the new law, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “must give a full review to every substance, and only those that pass can go to market,” Molteni further explains. In this manner, EPA approved 81 new substances for market release during the first half of 2016 prior to the TSCA reform, whereas only 39 substances were approved for commercialization in the second half of 2016 after the TSCA reform. Rich Engler, chemical consultant at environmental law firm Bergeson & Campbell PC and previous senior staff scientist at EPA, commented on the situation: “If I were advising a client I would tell them to only try to develop something low-hazard, because those are the only ones proceeding through right now.”
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Megan Molteni (January 9, 2017). “The chemical industry’s having a bad reaction to new regs.” Wired
