In order to provide the public as much information as possible about the health and the environmental impacts of chemicals, the EPA has made public the identities of more than 150 chemicals contained in 104 health and safety studies that had previously been claimed confidential by industry.

In order to provide the public as much information as possible about the health and the environmental impacts of chemicals, the EPA has made public the identities of more than 150 chemicals contained in 104 health and safety studies that had previously been claimed confidential by industry. The June 8, 2011 announcement is another in a series of unprecedented actions that EPA is taking to provide the public with greater access to information on the chemicals that are manufactured and used in the United States.

For these 104 studies, the chemical identity will no longer be redacted, or kept from view. The chemicals involved are used in dispersant formulations and consumer products such as air fresheners, non-stick and stain resistant materials, fire resistant materials, nonylphenol compounds, perfluorinated compounds, and lead.

"This action to disclose the identity of more than 150 chemicals is an important step in EPA's commitment to give the American people access to critical information about chemicals that their children and families may be exposed to," said Steve Owens, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. "A health and safety study with the chemical name kept secret is completely useless to the public."

In 2010, the EPA challenged industry to voluntarily declassify unwarranted claims of confidential business information (CBI). The agency also issued new guidance outlining plans to deny confidentiality claims for chemical identity in health and safety studies under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Based on this guidance, the EPA notified a number of companies in February 2011 that the agency had determined that their CBI claim was not eligible for confidential treatment under TSCA and that EPA intended to make the information public.

The health and safety studies include some declassified by the agency and other voluntary declassifications by companies in response to the agency's challenge. The EPA is committed to posting new declassified materials under the TSCA on the agency website on a regular basis.

In addition to these actions, the EPA over the past several months has taken a number of other steps to make chemical information more readily available. The agency has provided the public, for the first time ever, with free access to the consolidated TSCA Inventory on the EPA and Data.Gov websites. The EPA also launched a new chemical data access tool that for the first time gives the public the ability to electronically search EPA's database of more than 10,000 health and safety documents on a wide range of chemicals that they may come in contact with every day. The agency promised it will continue to take actions to increase the public's access to chemical information.

More information is available by clicking on this link.

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