The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a September 7, 2017, webinar to explain its process for gathering use and exposure information on five persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals under the amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA states that the webinar will provide background on new requirements for regulating certain PBT chemicals and explain how interested parties can provide use information to EPA on these five chemicals:
- Decabromodiphenyl ethers (DecaBDE), used as a flame retardant in textiles, plastics, wiring insulation, and building and construction materials;
- Hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD), used as a solvent in the manufacture of rubber compounds and as hydraulic, heat transfer, or transformer fluid;
- Pentachlorothiophenol (PCTP), used as a mercaptan (sulfur) cross-linking agent to make rubber more pliable in industrial uses;
- Phenol, isopropylated, phosphate (3:1), used as a flame retardant in consumer products and as lubricant, hydraulic fluid, and other industrial uses; and
- 2,4,6-Tris(tert-butyl) phenol, an antioxidant that can be used as a fuel, oil, gasoline, or lubricant additive.
Under TSCA Section 6(h), EPA is required to take expedited regulatory action to address risks and exposures from certain PBT chemicals. By June 22, 2019, EPA must propose rules for the above five PBT chemicals that have been identified under TSCA Section 6(h)(1). EPA is currently identifying where these chemicals are used and how people are exposed to them. Following EPA’s presentation, participants will have an opportunity to provide their comments on uses of these five chemicals.