For the first time in 40 years, the US Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has been revised, with the new law making it simpler for the EPA to regulate harmful chemicals. Since the creation of the TSCA in 1976, the EPA has regulated only five chemicals, likely due to the limited amount of time the EPA had in proving that a new chemical is unsafe to enter the market. The updated TSCA ensures that the EPA will have ample time to analyze new chemicals and will be able to focus on prioritized chemicals, as well as use new tools to collect data for research. However, the proposed changes will take time to come into effect; the EPA has already prioritized 90 chemicals to be analyzed (including BPA, styrene and arsenic), which, according to the Environmental Working Group, will take 28 years to assess risk evaluations, 30 years to finalize regulations and 35 years to implement the changes. For the first year of the amended TSCA, Congress will invest $56 million, which allows the EPA to begin analyzing 10 chemicals.

Source: Bloomberg