EPA Extends Deadlines for Health, Safety Data Reporting for 50 Chemicals

Manufacturers and importers of 50 chemicals will have additional time to report data from certain unpublished health and safety studies to EPA, the agency announced last week. The reporting requirement stems from a final rule published in June by EPA. The chemicals affected by this action include 20 chemicals designated by EPA as “high-priority” substances that are being evaluated for risk under the Toxic Substances Control Act and 30 organohalogen flame retardants being evaluated for health risks by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act. The new rule also requires manufacturers to submit to EPA unpublished studies on occupational, general population, and consumer exposure for these chemicals.

Manufacturers of the 20 high-priority substances, which include formaldehyde and 1,3-butadiene, now have until Dec. 1 to submit studies on these chemicals to EPA. According to the agency, information on these substances will be used to inform the EPA’s ongoing risk evaluations to determine whether the chemicals’ current conditions of use present unreasonable risks to human health or the environment.

The submission deadline for manufacturers of the 30 organohalogen flame retardants being evaluated by CPSC is now Jan. 25, 2022. Data about the flame retardants will help EPA prioritize these chemicals for risk evaluation and assist CPSC in reviewing the use of the chemicals in consumer products.

A full list of the 50 chemicals can be found in the text of EPA’s final rule. For more information, see the EPA webpage on health and safety data reporting for these chemicals.