EPA Publishes Supporting Materials for Chemicals Designated as "Low Priority"

Last week, EPA proposed to designate 20 chemicals as “low-priority substances” under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which was signed into law in June 2016 and amended TSCA, requires EPA to prioritize existing chemical substances for high- or low-priority designations. The agency’s recent action is the second step in its new process for reviewing chemical substances under the amended TSCA. EPA completed the first step in March when it published a list of 40 chemical substances, including 20 “high-priority” chemical substances for subsequent risk evaluation and 20 low-priority substances. The agency states that the risks associated with low-priority chemical substances are low, and risk evaluation for those substances is not warranted at this time. EPA’s proposed low-priority chemical substances include d-gluconic acid, 1-docosanol, 1,2-hexanediol, and 1-octadecanol.

EPA has published supporting materials for the 20 proposed low-priority chemical substances. The dossier for each of the 20 chemicals includes information, analysis, and the basis for the agency’s proposed designation of low priority. EPA is accepting comments on the proposed designations until Nov. 13. 2019. More information is available in the Federal Register.