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Experts clash over 'risk‑based' versus 'hazard‑based' interpretations of TSCA at committee hearing
Summary
The committee heard sharply different technical views on whether EPA is implementing TSCA in a risk‑based or effectively hazard‑based manner, with industry warning restrictions are applied when hazards alone exceed low thresholds and public‑health witnesses defending EPA’s authority to require safety findings.
A central scientific dispute at the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing was whether EPA’s implementation of TSCA has moved from a risk‑based approach (hazard weighted by exposure) toward a hazard‑focused practice that treats many intrinsic chemical hazards as effectively dispositive.
Dr. Richard Engler (ACTA Group), who served at EPA for 17 years, argued that the new‑chemical program increasingly issues restrictions when a hazard exceeds low thresholds even when modeled or measured exposures fall below levels of concern. Engler used analogies heard in the hearing — a shark…
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