News Releases from Headquarters›Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP)

EPA Proposes Low-Priority Substances Under TSCA, Meets Another TSCA Milestone

Ultimate designations will allow EPA to focus its risk evaluation efforts on chemical substances that have a significant impact on public health and the environment.

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to designate 20 chemical substances as Low-Priority Substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This proposal marks EPA’s meeting another major milestone under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century amendments to TSCA – which require EPA through a variety of transparent processes to prioritize existing chemical substances for high- or low-priority designations. A final designation of “low-priority” means that the risks associated with the chemical substances are low, and risk evaluation for that chemical substance is not warranted at this time.

“Today’s action demonstrates EPA’s diligence in meeting its obligations under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act for the 21st Century,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Alexandra Dunn. “The agency’s proposed designation of 20 Low-Priority Substances is part of a rigorous, transparent, and scientifically sound process to ensure that the chemical substances in American commerce do not pose unreasonable risks of injury to human health or the environment.”

To support a proposed priority designation, EPA considered reasonably available information for each chemical substance under its conditions of use as specified in TSCA section 6(b)(1).

For each chemical substance, EPA is making a docket available that contains the screening review and rationale for the proposed Low-Priority Substance designation. The dockets are available on www.regulations.gov. A 90-day public comment period will start after the proposal is published in the Federal Register. During this period, the public may submit relevant information and comments on the proposed designations. EPA has also published the Approach Document for Screening Hazard Information for Low-Priority Substances Under TSCA that describes the literature review process that will be used for each chemical’s hazard information.

EPA published a list of 40 chemical substances on March 20, 2019, that initiated the prioritization process to designate 20 chemical substances as “high-priority” for subsequent risk evaluation and 20 as “low-priority.” EPA will make the supporting information for the proposed high-priority substances available in the coming weeks and remains on track to finalize the designations for 20 high-priority chemical substances and 20 low-priority chemical substances by December 2019 – the TSCA deadline.

More information on the Low-Priority Substances can be found at: https://19january2021snapshot.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/chemical-substances-undergoing-prioritization-low

More information on TSCA and the prioritization process can be found at: www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/prioritizing-existing-chemicals-risk-evaluation