The Toxic Substances Control Act: How These Regulatory Guidelines Shape Chemical Innovation

by Lucy Curtis (American Chemical Society) The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is the primary set of regulatory guidelines used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review chemicals intended for commercial use and determine their potential safety risks to human health and the environment. Originally created in 1976, TSCA was updated in 2016 under the Obama administration by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act and is now due for reauthorization once again.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) has consistently advocated for a reauthorization bill with a regulatory framework that advances innovation in the chemical enterprise without sacrificing the protective measures necessary to safeguarding human health and the health of our environment. It is ACS’ position that chemical risk evaluation should be based on robust, reproducible science and risk-based criteria encompassing a substance’s full life cycle.

The challenge comes when the need for substantial evaluation comes up against the time constraints of the market and the need for maintaining momentum in research settings. This can be remedied by sustaining adequate funding and technical staff at the EPA to enable the agency to develop reliable regulations and provide certainty for chemical manufacturers.

ACS’s advocacy for TSCA reauthorization is based on our Policy Position Statements , which are member-written and board approved policy recommendations to the federal government which ensure policymakers understand how the latest discoveries, best research practices, and realities of the chemistry enterprise should inform federal policymaking and regulatory practices. The position statement offering the most guidance on this topic is “Safety in the Chemistry Enterprise,” which was renewed at the beginning of this year, and includes guidelines and suggestions on how best to ensure a regulatory framework that works for chemists throughout every level of the research, fabrication, and commercialization processes, and beyond.

To understand our current advocacy on this issue, we need to go back a few years. In 2023, the EPA decided to ban Dichloromethane (DCM), a compound frequently used in research labs as well as commercial settings. Despite the frequent use of DCM across academic and research settings, the EPA’s language didn’t indicate what these regulations meant for smaller labs and if they were expected to comply in the same way larger commercial labs were. This question of compliance across different settings led ACS to reach out to the EPA and share a comment explaining to the regulators the issues the current guidelines could cause. While the DCM ban was still enacted without a carveout for smaller research labs and academic settings, the conversation set ACS up to be a better resource for members on how to engage with this recent regulatory change and strengthened our relationship with the staff of the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) that implement TSCA. This exchange set the stage for the current conversation happening around reauthorization.

Today, Congress is once again considering reauthorizing the TSCA fee collection authority which covers close to 25% of the costs of the program and enables this regulatory capacity of the EPA and the timely and accurate evaluation of new chemicals. To ensure that this process is informed by the realities of the chemistry enterprise, ACS has reached out to Congressional leadership both independently as well as in coalition with other organizations to impress upon our lawmakers the importance of a regulatory framework that employs sound scientific principles that support public health protection and continued scientific innovation.

ACS continues to lead in this key policy area, using our voice to emphasize the crucial connective tissue between the academic and research worlds and the chemical industry. We will continue to impress upon Congress the importance of reauthorizing TSCA, specifically asking that they reauthorize user fees set to expire in September 2026 to avoid further delays in new and existing chemical review. In addition, with the Presidential Budget Request outlining substantial cuts to the EPA’s operating budget, it is more important than ever that Congress acts swiftly to reject these proposed cuts to ensure the agency has the necessary resources to implement TSCA alongside other key functions.

Join us in advocating for the reauthorization of TSCA and the future of chemical innovation by joining Act4Chemistry, our legislative action network which alerts you when to act, how to contact your representatives, and gives you helpful tips on how to craft the most effective message. READ MORE