EPA on Monday released proposed changes to its structure for reviewing dangerous existing chemicals, marking a return to key provisions in the first Trump administration’s approach.
The proposed framework, if finalized, would only apply to risk evaluations that are still in process, “but not yet finalized,” a signal that the Trump administration does not expect to redo the Toxic Substances Control Act evaluations completed under the Biden administration.
“The American public and the businesses that drive our nation’s great economy need to have confidence in the safety of chemicals reviewed by EPA,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. “That’s why today’s proposal lays out a clear, predictable, commonsense approach that’s grounded in the law and the science.”
The proposed rule replaces the Biden-era “whole chemical” approach with one that scrutinizes each use individually. It would also factor workplace protections into assessments, ditching the current framework’s language ruling out safety equipment that the past administration said was not reliably worn in workplace settings.
