The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed to designate five chemicals as "High-Priority Substances" for risk evaluation under the nation's chemical safety law, the Toxic Substances Control Act. If the EPA finalizes these designations as proposed, the agency would immediately move forward with the risk evaluation process.
The five chemical substances the EPA is proposing to designate as high-priority substances are vinyl chloride, acetaldehyde, acrylonitrile, benzenamine and 4,4'-methylene-bis-(2-chloroaniline). They were selected from a longer list of chemicals the agency had previously identified for additional assessment.
Vinyl chloride is used primarily in the manufacturing and processing of plastic materials such as polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, plastic resins, and other chemicals. PVC material is used in the construction of window profiles and trims, doors, guttering, and soffit boards and fascia boards.
Next steps
The risk evaluation process is the second step in the EPA's process for evaluating existing chemical substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act. The purpose of risk evaluation is to determine whether a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk to health or the environment, under the conditions of use, including an unreasonable risk to a relevant potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation.
The EPA is accepting public comments on the proposed designations until Oct. 23, 2024, under docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2023-0601.
