EPA Removes Confidentiality Claims for More Than 150 Chemicals
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has made public the identities of more than 150 chemicals contained in 104 health and safety studies that industry had claimed confidential. The is another in a series of actions EPA is taking to provide the public with greater access to information on the chemicals manufactured and used in the United States.
For these 104 studies, the chemical identity will no longer be redacted, or kept from view. The chemicals involved are used in dispersant formulations and consumer products such as air fresheners, non-stick and stain resistant materials, fire resistant materials, nonylphenol compounds, perfluorinated compounds, and lead.
“This action to disclose the identity of more than 150 chemicals is an important step in EPA’s commitment to give the American people access to critical information about chemicals that their children and families may be exposed to,” said Steve Owens, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “A health and safety study with the chemical name kept secret is completely useless to the public.”
In 2010, EPA challenged industry to voluntarily declassify unwarranted claims of confidential business information (CBI). The agency also issued new guidance outlining plans to deny confidentiality claims for chemical identity in health and safety studies under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Based on this guidance, EPA notified a number of companies in February 2011 that the agency had determined that their CBI claim was not eligible for confidential treatment under TSCA and that EPA intended to make the information public.
The health and safety studies include some declassified by the agency and other voluntary declassifications by companies in response to EPA’s challenge. EPA is committed to posting new declassified materials under TSCA on the agency website on a regular basis.
In addition to these actions, EPA over the past several months has has provided the public, for the first time ever, with free access to the consolidated TSCA Inventory on the EPA and Data.Gov websites. EPA also launched a new chemical data access tool that gives the public the ability to electronically search EPA’s database of more than 10,000 health and safety documents on a wide range of chemicals that they may come in contact with every day.