EPA Changes To Trade Secrets Rules Could Slow Flow Of Safety Data

摘要

EPA's changes to what the chemicals industry can list as trade secrets with the agency will reduce the amount of new health and safety data that companies submit to the agency, for fear of increasing their liability or bad publicity, according to comments made during a recent chemical industry conference - even as the agency declassified 42 additional chemicals. Section 8e of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which controls the manufacture and use of industrial chemicals in the United States, requires that manufacturers or importers "notify EPA immediately after obtaining information on any of their chemical substances or mixtures that reasonably supports the conclusion that such substance or mixture presents a substantial risk of injury to health or the environment," according to the agency's website.