EPA Seeks Feedback on Draft Scope Documents for 13 "High-Priority" Chemicals

EPA seeks public input on draft scope documents for 13 “high-priority” chemicals for upcoming risk evaluations under the Toxic Substances Control Act. These substances are part of a group of 20 chemicals that EPA designated as high-priority for risk evaluation in December 2019. The draft documents include the hazards, exposures, proposed conditions of use, and the potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations EPA expects to consider during each chemical’s risk evaluation. EPA’s scope documents also cover the “science approaches” that the agency plans to use during its evaluations, conceptual models of potential hazards and exposures throughout the chemicals’ lifecycles, and potential plans for peer review. Collecting comments on these scope documents represents the next step in EPA’s three-year risk evaluation process to determine whether these chemicals present an “unreasonable risk” to human health or the environment under the substances’ conditions of use.

Draft scope documents for the following chemicals will be available for review and comment until May 26, 2020: p-dichlorobenzene, 1,2-dichloroethane, trans-1,2-dichloroethylene, o-dichlorobenzene, 1,1,2-trichloroethane, 1,2-dichloropropane, 1,1-dichloroethane, TBBPA, TCEP, TPP, ethylene dibromide, 1,3-butadiene, and HHCB. More information on each of the chemicals is available from EPA’s website, and instructions for submitting comments can be found in the Federal Register.

EPA expects to publish draft scope documents for the seven remaining high-priority chemicals soon for public comment. Formaldehyde is among the high-priority chemicals for which scope documents have not yet been released.