Stories

Contact: Emily DiFrisco, emilyd@ceh.org

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – Today, the nonprofit watchdog the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) announced the completion of its enforcement against companies that failed to report chemical imports to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in violation of federal chemical safety law. CEH achieved fifteen settlement agreements resulting in companies filing reports with the EPA for over 150 previously unreported chemicals, totaling more than 12 billion pounds.

The agreements stem from violations of the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which requires manufacturers and importers to report information about chemicals produced or imported into the United States. The EPA requires this information so it can identify the risks of chemicals and assist communities in identifying the substances to which their residents are exposed. 

The violations identified through CEH’s research were for the 2020 CDR reporting cycle, which covered production and import activity during 2016-2019. CEH announced they plan to launch a new enforcement initiative for the 2024 CDR report cycle.

Many of the chemicals addressed in these agreements are widely used in industrial and commercial applications and can make their way into everyday products. Among the chemicals were several priority substances for the EPA such as methylene chloride, trichloroethylene, benzene, phthalate esters and di-isocyanates because they cause cancer or other serious health harms.

“Exposure to toxic chemicals is pervasive and linked to myriad health issues, from cancer to hormone disruption,” said Shakoora Azimi-Gaylon, CEH’s Senior Director of Toxic Exposures and Pollution Prevention. “Imported chemicals can cause severe chronic health issues and environmental contamination as they enter the U.S. market without proper safety reviews or accountability. EPA needs complete information on imported chemicals so it can meet its responsibilities under TSCA to assess and manage risks.”

“It is EPA’s responsibility to investigate violations of TSCA and take action to ensure that companies in violation come into compliance with the law. For these fifteen settlements, violations were not identified by EPA and would not have come to light without CEH’s efforts,” said Bob Sussman, CEH counsel and former senior EPA official. “Although CEH has notified EPA of these violations, it has not followed up by assessing penalties against the companies involved. We need the EPA leadership to recommit to strong enforcement of TSCA so the burden of assuring compliance does not fall only on private parties like CEH.”

“We applaud these companies for working with CEH on their TSCA compliance,” said Kizzy Charles-Guzman, Chief Executive Officer at the Center for Environmental Health. “CEH is proud to fill these major gaps in enforcement and reporting, acting as a watchdog of our important public health and environmental laws to protect people from potential exposure to toxic chemicals in their communities.”