Amended Safe Chemicals Act Still Includes Special Substance Characteristics Provision
On July 25, 2012, the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works approved Senator Frank Lautenberg’s (D-NJ) amended Safe Chemicals Act of 2011 (S. 847) in a 10-8 partisan vote. While the bill does not explicitly mention nano, potentially relevant provisions remain in the amended text. These include the bill granting the Administrator the ability to determine that a variant of a chemical substance that exhibits one or more special substance characteristics either “is a use that is separate from any use of the chemical substance that does not exhibit the special substance characteristics” or is a distinct chemical substance. In the event that a chemical substance exhibiting special substance characteristics is considered to be a variant that is a separate use, the manufacturer or processor will be required to satisfy conditions that are established by the Administrator. In the event that a chemical substance exhibiting special substance characteristics is considered to be a distinct chemical substance, and is not listed on the active inventory of chemicals manufactured or processed in the U.S., the manufacturer or processor would be required to submit data. This measure could have a significant impact on nanoscale chemical substances.