EPA Proposed Change to Its Risk Assessment Process for New Chemicals

EPA proposed changes to its risk assessment process for new chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to account for “overburdened populations”. Specifically, EPA proposed to include “overburdened communities” in the definition of potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations (PESS). This change would require EPA to determine whether the lack of information about a new chemical poses an “unreasonable risk” to those populations. The proposal would also delete certain persistent and toxic chemicals (PFAS and PBT). Read more about the proposed changes. Comments were due Aug. 8, 2023.