EPA Initiates Comment Period For High-Volume Chemical Tests
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
The Environmental Protection Agency is amending its high production volume chemical testing program with a 90-day review period to offer industry an opportunity to comment on toxicity test plans and summaries for chemicals before testing commences. The review period was announced at an EPA "stakeholders" meeting in Washington D.C. July 27.
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The Environmental Protection Agency is amending its high production volume chemical testing program with a 90-day review period to offer industry an opportunity to comment on toxicity test plans and summaries for chemicals before testing commences. The review period was announced at an EPA "stakeholders" meeting in Washington D.C. July 27. Under EPA's Chemical-Right-To-Know HPV Challenge Program, companies across a number of industries have been asked to sponsor safety testing on 2,800 chemicals produced or imported into the U.S. in quantities of more than 1 mil. pounds a year (1 (Also see "EPA Requests Manufacturers Conduct Safety Testing On HPV Chemicals" - HBW Insight, 25 Jan, 1999.)). EPA has signed up sponsors for 1,153 chemicals to date, with 1,024 receiving full sponsorship. Cosmetic chemicals under review include oleic acid, stearic acid, methacrylic acid, toluene and ethyl alcohol. Procter & Gamble, Andrew Jergens, Dial and Henkel are among the participants from the personal care industry. "The principle reasons for the 90-day review period are to provide opportunities for anyone having additional information on the chemical [or] additional existing data, to bring that forward [and] make it available to the study sponsors," Office of Pollution Prevention & Toxic Chemical Control Division Director Charlie Hour said. The comment period also will allow interested parties to voice concerns with chemical test plans to EPA, individual sponsors and the consortium. The review period was proposed at previous EPA stakeholders meetings by industry, which expressed concern that the agency was not taking existing data into account, thus causing unnecessary animal tests to be conducted (2 (Also see "EPA High Production Chemicals Review Committee Suggested By P&G" - HBW Insight, 22 Mar, 1999.)). The final two stakeholders meetings will be held Sept. 21, hosted by the Chemical Manufacturers Association and in November, by the Doris Day Animal League. The review period could produce a "bottle neck" effect of data if EPA does not promptly provide comments following the review period, CMA CHEMSTAR Panel Manager Kathleen Roberts said. Companies therefore should be permitted to move forward on research a few days following the comment period with or without a response from the agency, she maintained. In response, Hour said EPA intends to review the comments quickly, although he acknowledged that initially, responses are likely to take a little longer. |