EPA discontinues use of exposure modeling thresholds in review of new chemicals

In an announcement made on August 22, 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has discontinued the use of exposure modeling thresholds when assessing the human health and environmental risks of new chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act. This change in policy is in keeping with the Biden Administration’s environmental justice efforts to protect those communities living in close proximity to facilities emitting toxic substances.

Key Details

Under the Toxic Substances Control Act’s (TSCA) New Chemicals program, tens of thousands of submissions of pre-manufacture notices (PMNs) have been reviewed over the past 20 years with the use of exposure modeling thresholds that were programmed to not consider risks from releases to the air or emissions of toxic substances below a certain threshold amount. Instead, this policy focused on exposures with the greatest potential to affect human health and the environment and took into account EPA’s limited resources to review PMNs.

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