On May 9, 2019, EPA announced a four-day public meeting of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) from June 18 to 21, 2019, to consider and review the draft Risk Evaluation for Colour Index (C.I.) Pigment Violet 29 (PV29)—a colorant primarily used in inks, paints, coatings, and plastics—and associated documents, including the hazard assessment, assessment of dose-response, exposure assessment, and risk characterization.
On Thursday, June 20, 2019, EPN presents oral and written testimony during the public meeting of the SACC, critiquing the draft Risk Evaluation for PV29, finding that EPA is failing to use the authority Congress has recently given it under the revised TSCA to require robust test data to inform its risk evaluation of existing chemicals. The risk evaluation of PV29 is critical because it is the first of 10 chemicals being evaluated under the amended TSCA, and it will be seen as precedent setting. EPA’s primary obligation is to ensure that any finding of “no unreasonable risk” is based on data that actually show no risk, as opposed to being based on the absence of data.
Summary of EPN Testimony Written by Gary Timm, former EPA Chief of the Chemical Testing Branch of the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics