TOXIC SUBSTANCE CONTROL ACT (TSCA)

Under TSCA section 4, EPA can issue test orders or rules requiring manufacturers to conduct health and environmental effects studies on their chemicals. This authority was included in the law because Congress recognized that inadequate data are available on most chemicals and that the responsibility for developing information on chemical safety should rest with the companies who put these chemicals in commerce and cause people and the environment to be exposed to the risk of harm. TSCA sets a low bar for requiring testing. EPA need only show that there is a basis for concern about the harmful effects of the chemical, that exposure may be occurring and that insufficient data are available to determine whether the chemical presents an unreasonable risk.

Under Section 21 of TSCA members of the public can formally submit a petition to the EPA to take action under several provisions of the law. This includes asking EPA to issue testing rules and orders under section 4. EPA must respond to petitions within 90 days and petitioners can take EPA to court if it denies the petition or fails to act.

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Sign our letter to President Biden.

While residents continue to lose friends and family due to rare forms of cancer, and drinking water fountains at schools remain contaminated, Chemours seeks to expand its operations, and the EPA refuses to use its authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to hold a known polluter accountable.

This is environmental injustice in action - and it has to stop.