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The Scoop: The EPA's Proposed Rule Limits New Uses of Chemicals
 | Key Points - The proposed rule requires companies to report all new uses of five groups of chemicals.
- These chemicals have been used in a wide range of consumer products and industrial applications.
- Additional testing on the health and environmental effects of certain chemicals may also be required.
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On March 20, 2012, the Acting Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a proposed rule that companies be required to report to the EPA all new uses, including in domestic or imported products, of five groups of potentially harmful chemicals. Over the years, these chemicals have been used in a range of consumer products and industrial applications, including paints, printing inks, pigments and dyes in textiles, flame retardants in flexible foams, and plasticizers. The five chemicals the EPA is targeting are:
Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs)
• Benzidine dyes
• Short chain chlorinated paraffin
• Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD)
• Phthalate di-n-pentyl phthalate (DnPP).
Industries that could be impacted by the proposed rule include chemical, petroleum, textile, furniture, electronics, and plastic (manufacturers of polyurethane foam, high impact polystyrene, and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene).
The agency is also proposing additional testing on the health and environmental effects of PBDEs if the manufacture and processing of those mixtures and their associated use, distribution in commerce, and disposal are not discontinued. Companies may be affected by this action if they manufacture or process tetrabromodiphenyl ether (tetraBDE), pentabromodiphenyl ether (pentaBDE), hexabromodiphenyl ether (hexaBDE), heptabromodiphenyl ether (heptaBDE), octabromodiphenyl ether (octaBDE), nonabromodiphenyl ether (nonaBDE), or decaBDE, or intend to, including as part of a mixture or article.
The EPA has found no evidence of manufacture or processing of c-pentaBDE or c-octaBDE except as impurities. Manufacturers and importers of c-decaBDE and decaBDE informed the EPA that they intend to phase out manufacture and import of the chemical no later than December 31, 2013. The EPA is proposing to amend the rule to ensure that after these activities have been discontinued no one resumes them without notifying the EPA in advance (within 90 days). A significant new use notification (SNUN) would have to be submitted to the EPA before manufacturing, importing, or processing begins. Test data would have to be submitted at the same time.
According to the EPA, this notification will provide the agency an opportunity to review the new uses before they commence and if warranted, take action to prohibit or limit the activity before human health or environmental effects can occur. Ongoing uses would be excluded from the proposed rule and will not be designated as significant new uses.
The proposed regulatory actions are known as significant new use rules (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The proposed SNURs, which will be published in the Federal Register for public comment, were identified in action plans the agency issued on these and other chemicals during the last two years. More details on these chemical-specific rules and the agency’s action plans can be found at the EPA web site.