June 15 US: Official Says EPA Prepared in Near Future To Use TSCA Authority to Restrict Chemicals

From Bloomberg BNA:

The Environmental Protection Agency is prepared to see “in the near future” whether it can use authority the Toxic Substances Control Act provides to ban or restrict chemicals, the agency’s senior chemicals and pesticide official said June 7.

“We will try and exercise some muscle we have not exercised for decades,” Jim Jones, EPA’s acting assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention, told state officials attending the Environmental Council of the States’ forum, State Environmental Protection in 2012. The meeting continues through June 8.

Section 6 of TSCA provides EPA with the authority to ban or restrict chemicals.

Section 6 requires that EPA prove it has substantial evidence that a chemical poses an unreasonable risk before it can ban, restrict, or take other actions to manage that risk. The section also requires that EPA use the least burdensome means to adequately protect against the unreasonable risk.

For the full story see the above link.