Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Quoted by Bloomberg Environment in “Ecological, Health Data on New Fluorochemicals Coming, EPA Says”

On September 24, 2018, Bloomberg Environment quoted Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C^®), regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan to expand the list of fluorochemicals on the ChemView database.

Companies making new fluorochemicals had to generate more than $25 million worth of health, environmental fate, degradation data, and other information under agreements they made, the agency told Bloomberg Environment in October 2008.

All of the companies Richard Engler, a chemist who worked at the EPA from 1997 until 2015, worked with had to provide more than the usual amount of new chemicals data to get the agency’s approval to make their products, he said.

They did this either by providing it upfront during discussions with the agency or through consent orders that required “triggered” or “pended” data, Engler told Bloomberg Environment Sept. 20.

Triggered or pended data means the companies would have to provide the additional toxicity, chemical degradation, or other information if, for example, they exceeded certain production volumes or sought to make or use the chemicals in a new way, said Engler, who now directs chemistry at the Washington office of Bergeson & Campbell PC.

Subsequent “significant new use rules” then placed those requirements on other companies that wanted to make the same chemicals. EPA’s ChemView database, which listed 549 new and older fluorochemicals as of Sept. 21, showed that 502, or 91 percent, of those chemicals were regulated.

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Reviewing submitted data to ensure it contains no confidential business information and formatting it to be easily searchable also takes time, and the EPA’s chemicals office has lacked the time it needs since TSCA was overhauled in 2016, Engler said.

See – https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/ecological-health-data-on-new-fluorochemicals-coming-epa-says-1 (subscription required)