EPA Addresses Backlog of Chemical Risk Notifications

EPA has eliminated an “extensive backlog” of chemical risk notifications, the agency said in a news article published on Oct. 10. According to EPA, agency staff reviewed approximately 3,000 notifications and “distributed over 900 of them across the agency.” The notifications were submitted to EPA by chemical manufacturers, importers, processers, and distributors, who are required by section 8(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to report chemical risk information to EPA. The submissions have to do with substances such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, pesticides, chemicals with pre-manufacture notices or significant new use rules, and high production volume chemicals, and are collected in an internal database. EPA staff review the submissions for “data relevancy and internal routing,” and the agency says that a team of about 65 people across EPA now receive notifications regarding these submissions.

EPA has made some changes intended to prevent future backlogs. For example, the agency has implemented an automated notification system that sends weekly emails to staff about incoming TSCA section 8(e) submissions that may be relevant to their work and has updated the process to categorize incoming submissions “for faster and more effective distribution to EPA staff.” The agency has also established a workgroup to identify inefficiencies in the TSCA section 8(e) program and to develop process improvements.

To learn more, see EPA’s news article.