PANEL 3: Priority setting of chemicals – potential for harmonisation and synergies Presentation: Tala R. Henry, Director, Risk Assessment Division, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency​

1. PRIORITIZATION UNDER THE TOXIC
SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT
Tala Henry
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
June 2018
henry.tala@ epa.gov

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Prioritization
Statutory Requirements
• EPA must establish a risk-based screening process, including criteria, for
designating a chemical substance as either:
– High-priority substance for risk evaluations
• may present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment
because of a potential hazard and a potential route of exposure under the
conditions of use, including an unreasonable risk to a “potentially exposed or
susceptible subpopulation”, without consideration of costs or other non-risk
factors
– Low-priority substance for which risk evaluations are not warranted at the time
• based on information sufficient to establish that the chemical does not meet
the standard for high-priority
• By December 2019: 20 high-priority under evaluation + 20 low-priority designations

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• The process to designate the priority must include consideration of:
– hazard and exposure potential
– persistence and bioaccumulation
– potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations
– storage near significant sources of drinking water
– the conditions of use or significant changes in the conditions of use
– the volume or significant changes in the volume
• Preference in designating priority substances:
– 2014 TSCA Work Plan chemicals (50% until complete) with persistence and
bioaccumulation scores of 3 (high) and that are know human carcinogens and
have high acute and chronic toxicity.
Prioritization
Statutory Requirements

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Prioritization Process and Timeline

5. Evaluating Risks of Existing Chemicals
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