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Experts clash over 'risk‑based' versus 'hazard‑based' interpretations of TSCA at committee hearing
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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 is a hazard but not a risk absent proximity; vinegar is corrosive but routinely used safely in households — to argue EPA is treating hazards as presumptive risks and thereby imposing restrictions that chill innovation.
Industry witnesses said that EPA reviewers commonly apply conservative default exposure assumptions, then impose restrictions if a hazard crosses a low threshold. They said that outcome drives supply‑chain burdens: restricted chemistries require downstream compliance, record keeping and supplier documentation that can discourage purchase and use.
Environmental Defense Fund and other public‑health witnesses said Congress intended the Lautenberg Act to require affirmative safety findings and that EPA must be able to request data and adopt restrictions where real‑world exposures present unreasonable risks, including protections for workers and susceptible populations. They also emphasized EPA’s recent rules on asbestos, methylene chloride and TCE as examples of risk management decisions grounded in science.
Committee members questioned whether EPA’s risk modeling and use of conservative default assumptions were transparent and consistently applied across reviewers. Several members and witnesses recommended improving EPA documentation, using clearer guidance on acceptable uncertainty and thresholds, and ensuring interagency coordination where OSHA or other statutes govern workplace exposures.
The technical debate at the hearing did not produce a single definitional change, but it clarified that any committee action would hinge on whether Congress wants to direct EPA more specifically about acceptable uncertainty, the role of modeled versus measured exposures, and the meaning of ‘‘not likely to present unreasonable risk’’ in TSCA section 5.
