EPA requires tests on HPV chemicals

Manufacturers, importers, and processors of 17 high-production-volume (HPV) chemicals must conduct toxicity and degradation tests on their products, under a March 16 rule issued by EPA. These compounds are among the 2,800 or so chemicals that are produced or used in amounts greater than 1 million lb per year for which EPA is seeking basic toxicity information. Chemical firms have volunteered to produce data for nearly all of these compounds through the HPV Challenge Program, launched in 1998 by EPA, Environmental Defense, and the American Chemistry Council. But no company has agreed to generate the information for the 17 substances, including methylene dibromide, 1-chlorododecane, and acetyl chloride, covered by the new rule. When EPA proposed the regulation in December 2000, it sought testing on 37 HPV chemicals. Since then, companies have volunteered to test 13 of the substances and seven of the compounds are no longer produced in high-production volumes, the agency said. Under the rule, producers, importers, and processors of the covered chemicals must supply the data to EPA by May 17, 2007.