Toxic substances government regulations

The latest government regulations set forth under the Toxic Substances Control Act and in PubHc Health Service pubHcations should be checked before formulating new lubricants. Users of lubricants should request Material Safety Data Sheets for each substance involved plus certification of compliance from vendors. Lubricant compounders should insist on similar information from their suppHers for any additive packages. Manufacturers of both additives and lubricants commonly make toxicity checks on commercial products. 

The federal government develops regulations and recommendations to protect public health. Regulations can be enforced by law. Federal agencies that develop regulations for toxic substances include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

The recent economic legitimacy which is given industrial concerns over the impacts of government regulations brings sharp focus to the impacts that the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has had on innovation. Reactive polymers are a major component in many products in segments of industry that can be characterized by the need for innovative products to meet constantly changing market needs. Such products include... 

The purpose of this chapter is to summarize and generalize the various pollution, health, and environmental problems especially specific to the chemical industry and to place in perspective government laws and regulations as well as industry efforts to control these problems. A brief survey of air and water pollution problems will be given, but these are characteristic of all industry and the topics are too vast to be covered adequately in this book. We will be more concerned with toxic chemical pollution and its control and will spend some time on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA, TOSCA) of 1976 and the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) list begun in 1988. 

The cost of TSCA administration is high. Hundreds of people are now employed in the Office of Toxic Substances. Direct public and private costs total millions of dollars and there may be other indirect costs that cannot be estimated. Certainly some things could be done to get more for our money. The PMN system could be modified to spend less time on low-risk chemicals. The ability to regulate existing chemicals should be increased. Voluntary compliance by industry should be stressed because it is cheaper and more efficient, but this must obviously be backed up by the possibility of regulatory action by the government. 

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Law passed in 1976 that governs the regulation of toxic substances in commerce, with the objective of preventing human health and environmental problems before they occur. The manufacturing, processing, or distribution in commerce of toxic substances may be limited or banned if EPA finds, based on results of toxicity testing and exposure assessments, that there is an unreasonable risk of injury to human health or the environment. Important hazardous chemicals regulated under TSCA include, for example, dioxins, PCBs, and asbestos. 

TSCA Toxic Substances Control Act, a set of federal regulations governing the commercial use of chemicals. 

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