{
  "id": "R41335",
  "type": "CRS Report",
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  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
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      "id": 366610,
      "date": "2010-08-12",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T01:31:50.808635",
      "title": "Proposed Amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA): Senate and House Bills Compared with Current Law",
      "summary": "On April 15, 2010, Senator Lautenberg introduced legislation (S. 3209) to amend the core provisions of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Title I. Representatives Waxman and Rush introduced comprehensive legislation to amend TSCA (H.R. 5820) on July 22, 2010. This report compares key provisions of S. 3209, as introduced, H.R. 5820, as introduced, and current law (15 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.).\nBoth bills would amend the 35-year-old law to shift the burden of demonstrating safety for chemicals in commerce from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to manufacturers and processors of chemicals. Both bills also would prohibit manufacture, processing, and distribution of any chemical substance or mixture for which safety has not been demonstrated. Although they propose somewhat different safety standards for EPA to enforce, both bills suggest a health-based standard. In contrast, current law requires that a chemical not pose \u201can unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment,\u201d and that any regulation should control unreasonable risk to the extent necessary using the \u201cleast burdensome\u201d means of available control. This TSCA standard has been interpreted to require cost-benefit balancing. To facilitate safety assessment, the proposals would require data development and submission to EPA for all chemicals in commerce. \nTSCA amendments would direct EPA to target chemicals with particular characteristics (for example, persistence in the environment) for earlier evaluation and possible risk management. Any regulatory action would be expedited, for example, by allowing EPA to issue orders rather than rules. The bills also would add new sections to TSCA. Of particular significance is a section authorizing actions that would allow U.S. implementation of three international agreements, which the United States has signed but not yet ratified. Other new sections would provide authority for EPA to support research in so-called \u201cgreen\u201d engineering and chemistry, promote alternatives to toxicity testing on animals, encourage research on children\u2019s environmental health, and require biomonitoring of pregnant women and infants. A \u201chot spots\u201d provision would require EPA to identify locations where residents are disproportionately exposed to pollution and to develop strategies for reducing their risks. \nThe proposals differ in many details and in several noteworthy ways. For example, for all existing chemicals that have not been placed on a priority list, data sets must be submitted within 14 years of the date of enactment of S. 3209, but within five years of enactment of H.R. 5820. The proposals also treat the identification of chemicals of highest concern differently. H.R. 5820 directs EPA to expedite action for 19 specified chemicals, while S. 3209 leaves identification of such chemicals to the Administrator\u2019s discretion. These and other provisions of the two legislative proposals are compared with current law in Tables 1 through 6.",
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    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc816059/",
      "id": "R41335_2010Jul28",
      "date": "2010-07-28",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Proposed Amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA): A Side-by-Side Comparison with Current Law",
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  "topics": [
    "Foreign Affairs"
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}