On April 1, 2011, Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent letters to 15 chemical manufacturers asking them to submit to Congress information pertaining to certain chemical products that are classified as persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic ("PBT"). The letters request information concerning (i) the volume of PBT chemicals produced, (ii) specific consumer products that might contain these PBT chemicals, and (iii) what, if any, testing has been done to address any risks that might be associated with these products. To see examples of these letters, please click here.
Some of the information being sought in these letters is similar to the information that U.S. EPA requests from companies as part of the Inventory Update Rule ("IUR") under TSCA. U.S. EPA typically collects data under the IUR every five years and U.S. EPA is preparing to collect this information in 2011 based on 2010 chemical production. However, U.S. EPA has yet to finalize the rule for collection of the 2010 data and chemical companies had expressed concerns that they be provided sufficient time to gather the requested data. The expectation was that if U.S. EPA published the final IUR in the spring, companies would have until the fall to submit the requested data. Representative Waxman's letter requests that companies submit the data by April 22, 2011 which is an unrealistic deadline.
Representative Waxman's data request comes on the heels of Erin Brockovich's March 29, 2011 Senate testimony in support of a bill sponsored by Senator Boxer that would require more federal resources to be devoted to documenting and identifying the cause of disease clusters in the United States. For a link to the Senate Committee Hearing on Senator Boxer's bill, please click here.