US Government Environment Capsules
compiled by Don Rittner


EPA Slow to Test Potential Toxic Chemicals

Over 60,000 chemicals are currently used to produce products found in the
office, home, and industry. Many of these are known to be harmless, but there
are thousands that have questionable effects on humans and the environment.
 The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) passed by Congress in 1976 gives the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the authority to require industry to
test potentially harmful chemicals and to regulate or ban the use of
chemicals found to be dangerous to human health, or the environment.
According to a report by the U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO), EPA has
made little progress in identifying chemicals for testing since the passage
of the Act. 
              
Congress made it clear that TSCA was to provide safeguards against the
introduction of new contaminants into the environment and to address the
risks posed by existing chemicals. If a chemical poses a "significant risk of
harm from cancer, gene mutations, birth defects, or unreasonable risk to
health or the environment," EPA is authorized to regulate the use of the
harmful chemical by banning the chemical, or requiring warning labels be
placed on the chemical or products containing the chemical when offered for
sale.  EPA can also issue advisories or warnings to the public showing
potential dangers from the chemicals.

According to the GAO, EPA has made little progress in developing information
on the safety of thousands of chemicals that affect our daily living.
 Furthermore,  the agency has not taken any action to regulate or warn the
public about chemicals found to be harmful. Since 1976, EPA has received
health and environmental results on only 22 chemicals and assessed the test
results for 13.  While EPA has determined that three of the chemicals are
dangerous, it has taken no regulatory action because it believes the
chemicals pose no significant or unreasonable risk. However, since EPA has no
criteria or methodology for determining significant or unreasonable risk, GAO
questions the basis for EPA'S failure to take regulatory action regarding
these chemicals. 

GAO found that EPA has dropped the ball in issuing warnings to the public on
the three harmful chemicals. Nor have they transmitted test results on these
chemicals to other regulatory agencies, obviously negating the intent of the
TSCA.

GAO also concluded that "Management control weaknesses and inattention to
resolving testing problems in a timely manner have added years to the
assessment of chemical safety concerns. " GAO indicates that EPA is
implementing several actions to improve "management control over the chemical
testing
process, including the development of a management information
system to monitor the status of chemicals being tested."

Another fault of EPA, according to the GAO, is after EPA completes an
evaluation of a chemical test result submitted by an industry, it makes them
available to the public but only at its headquarters.  EPA  does not make the
results available to scientific journals and data bases which require peer
review of test results. In effect,  the scientific community and the public
do not have easy access to the data and cannot fully benefit from the test
results. EPA is currently exploring ways to disseminate the results to a
wider audience, including peer review of test data, according to the GAO
study.

Copyright 1991, Don Rittner


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Don Rittner is the author of EcoLinking: Everyone's Guide to Online
Information (Peachpit Press), a columnist for Environment News Service, and
Host of America Online's Environmental Forum.