EPA Reveals More Chemical Identities

EPA in late February declassified the identity of chemicals in 300 health and safety submissions that manufacturers provided to the agency under the Toxic Substances Control Act. When the companies originally filed this information with EPA, they claimed the identity of the chemicals as confidential business information. This led EPA to redact the chemicals’ identity in the public version of these files. This, health and safety advocates and researchers said, rendered the data virtually useless. The agency agreed, and in 2010, it began reviewing some 22,000 TSCA filings. In cases the agency deems appropriate, it is challenging confidentiality assertions for chemical identity in health and safety data. In addition, EPA issued a voluntary challenge for companies to review these filings and lift confidentiality assertions that are no longer needed or warranted. Voluntary industry action to remove claims has made a significant contribution to the declassification effort, EPA says. The agency’s recent move brings to nearly 800 the number of filings that now make available to the public a chemical identity formerly protected as a trade secret.