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Washington — The Environmental Protection Agency is accepting comment on a proposal that would change how the agency evaluates a chemical’s risk to workers.
Published on Sept. 23, the proposed rule would eliminate EPA’s “whole substance” approach, which requires risk evaluations for different uses of a chemical to culminate in a single determination of whether the chemical presents “unreasonable” risk to workers.
Instead, EPA would make “separate risk determinations for each condition of use within the scope of the risk evaluation” while considering existing workplace protections. The agency also would consider other relevant risk-related factors, including:
- Severity of the hazard
- Exposure-related factors (such as duration, intensity and frequency of exposure)
- The population exposed
- The confidence in the information used to inform the hazard and exposure values
The proposal would affect risk evaluations “that are in process as of the date of the final rule but not yet finalized,” EPA says.
The agency adopted the whole-substance approach in a rule finalized in May 2024. The rule also expanded the scope of chemical risk evaluation policies under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 by:
- Expanding consideration of exposure pathways.
- Making clarifications to ensure EPA risk evaluations consider risks to workers.
- Eliminating consideration of exposure reduction based on workers’ assumed use of personal protective equipment.
Kimberly Wise White is vice president of regulatory and science affairs at the American Chemistry Council, which represents chemical manufacturers. In a press release, Wise said the May 2024 final rule “created unnecessary complexity, confusion and uncertainty” and that EPA’s proposed rule is “adequately considering relevant exposures and condition of use information to inform decision-making.”
The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which amended the TSCA, requires EPA to address chemical risks by proposing – within one year of a chemical review’s release – regulatory actions such as training, certification, restricted access and/or ban of commercial use, and then accept public comments on any proposals.
The deadline to comment on the proposal is Nov. 7.
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Original article published by Safety+Health an NSC publication