Data Development and Information Collection to Assess Risks

Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), as amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, EPA has broad authority to issue regulations designed to:

Require manufacturers (including importers) or processors to test chemical substances and mixtures and report their findings to EPA (TSCA section 4 Test Requirements, 15 U.S.C. 2603) ;
Gather information on chemical manufacturing, processing and use (TSCA section 8(a) Reporting Requirements, 15 U.S.C. 2607);
Gather unpublished chemical health and safety information from manufacturers (including importers), processors or distributors (TSCA section 8(d) Reporting Requirements, 15 U.S.C. 2607);
Gather information on chemical exports (TSCA section 12(b) Export Notification Requirements, 15 U.S.C. 2611).

In addition, TSCA section 8(e) Substantial Risk Reporting (15 U.S.C. 2607) requires manufacturers (including importers), processors and distributors to notify EPA immediately of information that reasonably supports the conclusion that their substances or mixtures present a substantial risk to health or the environment.

Read about TSCA.

This hazard and exposure data is important information that enables the Agency to better identify, prioritize, and assess potential risks to human health and the environment. On this page you will learn more about:

What type of information does EPA collect?
What does EPA do with the information it collects?

What Type of Information Does EPA Collect?

Chemical Test Data

Test Rules -- Section 4 of TSCA gives EPA the authority to require chemical manufacturers (including importers) and processors to test existing chemicals and report the results to EPA. Under section 4, EPA can by rule require testing after making “data inadequacy” and “testing is necessary” findings. Testing required by EPA must be conducted via EPA-approved test methods and guidelines.

Test Orders – TSCA section 4 gives EPA the authority to require chemical manufacturers (including importers) and processors to test existing chemicals and report the results to EPA. Learn more about TSCA section 4 test orders.

National PFAS Testing Strategy and Test Orders

To protect human health and the environment from the potential risks of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), EPA has developed a national testing strategy that will inform requiring PFAS manufacturers to provide the agency with toxicity data and information on categories of PFAS chemicals to inform future regulatory efforts. The PFAS to be tested will be selected based on an approach that breaks the large number of PFAS into smaller categories based on similar features and considers what existing data are available for each category. EPA’s initial set of test orders for PFAS will be strategically selected from more than 20 different categories of PFAS.

Read the National PFAS Testing Strategy.

Consent Agreements -- EPA also works with members of the U.S. chemical industry to develop needed data via TSCA section 4 Consent Agreements.

ECA on Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4)
- EPA entered into an Enforceable Consent Agreement with five manufacturers of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (CAS Rn: 556-67-2), which is widely used as a chemical intermediate and component of personal care products. The EPA required testing for the chemical’s presence in several environmental media.
- Under the terms of the ECA, the signatory companies have agreed to collect and analyze samples from environmental media around wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) that treat D4: (WWTP influent, WWTP effluent, and WWTP biosolids). In addition, downstream surface water, sediment, and biota were tested. The signatory companies completed the ECA testing requirements in September 2017. The information gathered by the ECA will be used in conjunction with other available data to assess exposures and risks due to environmental releases from D4. The final test report can be found in multiple sections in the docket (EPA-HQ-OPPT-2012-0209).
High Production Volume Voluntary Testing Program
- In 1998 EPA, Environmental Defense (ED), American Petroleum Institute (API), and American Chemistry Council (ACC) launched the High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge Program, a voluntary program intended to collect health and environmental effects data to provide the public with basic hazard information regarding HPV chemicals. As of June 2007, companies sponsored more than 2,200 HPV chemicals, with approximately 1,400 chemicals sponsored directly through the HPV Challenge Program and over 860 chemicals sponsored indirectly through international efforts.
- Access HPV data through ChemView.
Interagency Testing Committee (ITC)
- The TSCA Interagency Testing Committee (ITC), created under section 4(e) of TSCA is an an independent advisory committee to the Administrator of the U.S. EPA. The ITC was created to make recommendations to the EPA Administrator on prioritizing and selecting chemicals for testing or information reporting to meet the coordinated data needs of its member U.S. Government organizations. Learn more about the ITC.

Manufacturing, Processing, Use and Release Data

Chemical Data Reporting – EPA collects manufacturing (including import), processing, and use information about chemicals in commerce in the United States under the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule under TSCA section 8.

Toxics Release Inventory Reporting – The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment. U.S. facilities in different industry sectors must report annually how much of each chemical is released to the environment and/or managed through recycling, energy recovery and treatment. (A "release" of a chemical means that it is emitted to the air or water, or placed in some type of land disposal.)

Learn more about Toxics Release Inventory Reporting.

Information Submission – EPA has opened 73 chemical-specific public dockets, one for each of the remaining chemicals on the 2014 TSCA Work Plan. Additionally, there is a general docket open for the public to suggest chemicals for risk evaluation that are not on the Work Plan. See types of information EPA is seeking and learn how to submit the information to the dockets.

TSCA Section 8(a)(7) Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements for Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances – EPA has finalized reporting and recordkeeping requirements for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) under TSCA. In accordance with obligations under TSCA, as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, EPA is requiring persons that manufacture (including import) or have manufactured these chemical substances in any year since January 1, 2011, to electronically report information regarding PFAS uses, production volumes, disposal, exposures, and hazards. Learn more about TSCA Section 8(a)(7) Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements.

TSCA Section 8(a)(1) Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements for Asbestos – EPA has finalized reporting and recordkeeping requirements for asbestos under the TSCA. Certain persons that manufactured (including imported) or processed asbestos (including as an impurity) in the last four years must report certain exposure-related information, including quantities of asbestos manufactured or processed, types of use, and employee data. The rule also covers asbestos-containing articles and where asbestos is a component of a mixture. Learn More.

TSCA Section 8(c) Records – EPA's TSCA section 8(c) rule at 40 CFR part 717 requires producers, importers, and certain processors of chemical substances and mixtures to keep records concerning significant adverse reaction reports and report those records to EPA upon notice in the Federal Register or upon notice by letter.

Read about EPA’s request for records on MBOCA under TSCA section 8(c)

The TSCA section 8(c) rule also provides a mechanism to identify previously unknown chemical hazards in that it may reveal patterns of adverse effects which otherwise may not be noticed or detected.

Unpublished Health and Safety Studies

Under TSCA section 8(d), EPA has the authority to promulgate rules to require producers, importers, and (if specified) processors of a chemical substance or mixture to submit lists and/or copies of ongoing and completed, unpublished health and safety studies. EPA has also used its TSCA section 8(d) authority to gather information needed by other EPA Program Offices and other Federal Agencies. Chemicals that are designated or recommended for testing by the TSCA Interagency Testing Committee (ITC) may be added to the rule via immediate final rulemaking (up to 50 substances/year). Non-ITC chemicals can be added to the section 8(d) rule via notice and comment rulemaking.

The term "health and safety study" is intended to be interpreted broadly and means "any study of any effect of a chemical substance or mixture on health or the environment or on both," including but not limited to:

Epidemiological or clinical studies;
Studies of occupational exposure;
In vivo and in vitro toxicological studies; and
Ecotoxicological studies.

Substantial Risk Notifications

Substantial Risk Notifications -- Section 8(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires U.S. chemical manufacturers (including importers), processors, and distributors to notify EPA immediately of information that reasonably supports the conclusion that their substances or mixtures presents a substantial risk of injury to health or the environment.

Anyone subject to the TSCA section 8(e) reporting requirement should submit a report to EPA within 30 calendar days of obtaining the information. This information may be toxicity or exposure data and need not be complete or definitive. Full reports or summarized results may be submitted. Limited studies (e.g., range-finding studies), preliminary results and draft reports may constitute sufficient evidence for TSCA section 8(e) reporting. Information that has been published or submitted to EPA under other authorities is exempt from TSCA section 8(e) reporting.

For Your Information (FYI) submissions -- EPA established a classification system to distinguish voluntary “For Your Information” (FYI) submissions from Substantial Risk Notifications submitted formally to EPA under TSCA section 8(e), discussed above. The FYI classification was created by EPA to capture chemical risk submissions by persons or organizations not subject to the TSCA section 8(e) reporting requirements.

Since 1977, EPA has received FYI submissions covering a wide variety of chemical substances and mixtures from chemical companies, trade associations, unions, public interest groups, civic associations, private citizens, academic institutions, state and other federal agencies as well as similar organizations and agencies in foreign countries. These substantial risk notices contain information on human exposure, epidemiology, toxicity test results, monitoring studies, environmental fate, and other information that may be pertinent to risk assessment.

What does EPA do with the information it collects?

Data collected pursuant to EPA’s TSCA information collection authorities is used for a variety of purposes, including to enhance the Agency’s understanding of chemical hazards and exposures in order to better assess risks to human health and the environment; to support risk reduction efforts; and to inform efforts to encourage industry to switch to safer chemicals. EPA also seeks to increase public access to non-confidential data on chemicals where possible.