A lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club and other environmental organizations contends that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is fast-tracking harmful chemicals in violation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), according to a press release posted on Insider NJ. An investigation reportedly found that the agency is not alerting the public when a new chemical is under review, as required by the TSCA.
According to the article, public notices for about 17,000 new chemicals from 2016 through February 2020 were published an average 87 days late, and one out of every six notices were published after the chemicals were already approved. Companies were also reportedly allowed to conceal important information about chemicals under review by claiming that health studies are confidential business information (CBI). The investigation also found that the EPA had audited only 27 out of 1,250 new chemical applications since 2016, though the TSCA requires that at least 25% of all CBI claims be reviewed, according to the release.
Read the entire article here.
