ELI Briefing: TSCA Reform

An ELI Associates Briefing

Everyone agrees the Toxic Substances Control Act needs to be revised. Yet TSCA reform has taken a dizzying path of one step forward, two steps back, and occasional giant jumps sideways.

In May, a significant milestone was reached with the introduction of the bipartisan Chemical Safety Improvements Act (CSIA) from Senators Lautenberg and Vitter with seven Democratic and seven Republican cosponsors. The sad passing of Senator Lautenberg continued the TSCA reform saga, but the draft legislation is momentous enough to merit a discussion of the bill and what it says about the state of TSCA reform.

An hour-long ELI Briefing addressed:

• What the CSIA would and would not do;
• Why various interest groups are split in their support/opposition;
• Key barriers and pathways to TSCA reform; and
• The legislative landscape for this and future TSCA reform efforts.

Our panel for this discussion represented a wide variety of perspectives on CSIA and TSCA reform:

Linda Breggin, Senior Attorney and Director, Nanotech Program, Environmental Law Institute (moderator)
Richard Denison, Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund
Anna Fendley, MPH, United Steelworkers
Dimitri Karakitsos, Republican Counsel, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
Judah Prero, Assistant General Counsel, American Chemistry Council

ELI Resources:
See more information on ELI's TSCA Deskbook, 2d ed. (2012)
Additional ELI resources on TSCA may be found HERE.

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