Almost a year ago, using its authority under the newly reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the EPA proposed banning certain uses of three solvent chemicals—methylene chloride (MC or DCM) and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) for paint and coating removal and trichloroethylene (TCE) for spot removal in dry cleaning and industrial vapor degreasing. Nearly a year later, the agency still hasn’t finalized these protections.

This year, a great group of public health advocates and chemical industry lobbyists were thanked for spending our Valentine’s Day talking about chemicals with the EPA staff.

A team of amazing kids battle lead contamination

Today EPA identified five chemicals that will receive “expedited action” under the new Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act.

Now that the final Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform bill is on the President’s desk, it is a good time to reflect on what it represents and what’s next.

As you may have seen, the Senate did not vote on TSCA reform yesterday after all. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky objected to the procedure for a quick vote (known as “unanimous consent”). Because the Senate is in recess through next week, the maneuver delays a vote until at least the week of June 6. […]

As you may know, staff from both chambers of Congress have nearly completed work reconciling different versions of chemical safety reform legislation (TSCA reform) that passed last year. (H.R. 2576 and S. 697 respectively.) Reportedly, there is at least one major sticking point remaining: should states be blocked for up to 4 years from taking action against a toxic chemical while EPA studies the chemical?

Today, more than 125 organizations sent a letter to House and Senate committee leaders spelling out in detail how the “best of both” TSCA bills emerging from the House and Senate could be combined. The groups said they would support a final bill that reflected the recommendations in the letter.

Last night, the Senate passed its bill to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This is a milestone that we have worked toward for years, but it also comes with some big red flags.