Chemical UpdateEPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution PreventionEPA Takes Next Step in TSCA Review of Five Chemicals to Better Protect Workers and the Environment, Releasing Draft Technical Support Documents for Peer Review and Public CommentU.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is advancing its review of five chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) — 1,1,2-trichloroethane; 4,4'-(1-methylethylidene)bis[2,6-dibromophenol] (TBBPA); 1,2-dichloropropane; ethylene dibromide; and trans-1,2-dichloroethylene — by sending the underlying science to an independent expert panel, the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC), for peer review and opening it for public comment. These chemicals appear in flame retardants, cleaning and degreasing products, leaded aviation gasoline, laboratories, and industrial processes, so EPA's conclusions can directly affect the air Americans breathe at home, at work, and in their communities. Released today are technical support documents supporting the draft risk evaluations for four of these chemicals. The draft risk evaluation and supporting documents for TBBPA were released on June 12, 2026 for public comment in TSCA docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0462 on www.regulations.gov. Draft documents related to all five chemicals are available for public comment and independent scientific peer review in SACC docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2026-2246 at www.regulations.gov — two essential steps in ensuring the integrity, radical transparency, and quality of EPA’s chemical safety assessments. Additionally, the draft environmental and human health hazard assessment for ethylene dibromide will be released to the same docket no later than June 26, 2026, along with charge questions related to this document. EPA is committed to using the best available science and rigorous, gold-standard methods — including systematic review and robust analysis of the available data — to understand the real-world risks these chemicals pose to people and the environment. For example, EPA used a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model to convert air concentrations of 1,1,2-trichloroethane into the internal doses that actually reach the critical organs in the body, sharpening both the cancer and non-cancer estimates of inhalation risk. The documents released today show the following:
- Ethylene dibromide, (also called 1,2-dibromoethane) is used mainly as a lead scavenger in leaded aviation gasoline, where it manages lead deposits in piston-engine aircraft — which means EPA is examining it in the broader context of lead exposure, including around airports and in communities near where it is handled. EPA's draft material identifies workplace exposures from import, repackaging, fuel-related uses, laboratory work, and waste handling, along with potential exposures through air, drinking water, surface water, fish, consumer uses, and other environmental pathways.
- trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene is used in cleaning and degreasing and in industrial and commercial products. EPA's draft documents evaluate non-cancer and environmental hazards and lay out EPA's full evaluation of the cancer evidence through the weight-of-evidence approach.
- 1,1,2-Trichloroethane is a volatile organic compound used primarily as an intermediate in the production of other organic chemicals. EPA’s draft technical support materials evaluate human and ecological hazards of 1,1,2-trichloroethane, highlighting respiratory, immune, neurological, and liver effects as key non-cancer concerns, evidence of carcinogenicity, and risks to aquatic and terrestrial species. The exposure assessment characterizes releases, fate/transport, and exposures across occupational, consumer, general population, and environmental pathways, concluding that air is the primary exposure pathway given the chemical’s properties and release patterns.
- 1,2-Dichloropropane is a chlorinated solvent that evaporates easily into the air. EPA’s draft hazard identified potential cancer and non-cancer health concerns including nervous system effects (such as drowsiness) and damage to the lining of the nose.
EPA is paying particular attention to the people most at risk — workers with the heaviest exposures, pregnant women, children, and communities living near sources — and welcomes comment on how real-world exposures should be reflected. EPA emphasizes that these documents are drafts and do not represent final agency determinations regarding the risks posed by these chemicals. The findings and conclusions may change based on feedback received during the public comment period and peer review process. All current safeguards remain in place. Following the closing of the public comment period and completion of peer review, EPA will carefully consider all input before finalizing the risk evaluations in accordance with TSCA requirements. August 2026 Peer Review Meeting On August 3-7, 2026, EPA will hold a virtual public meeting of the SACC to review the draft technical support documents for these five chemicals. In advance of the August meeting, EPA will also hold a preparatory virtual public meeting on July 23, 2026, for the SACC and the public to consider and ask questions regarding the scope and clarity of the draft charge questions that will be used in the peer review meeting. EPA will publish registration links for the July preparatory meeting and August SACC meeting on the SACC website approximately one month prior to each meeting. The draft documents and draft charge questions will be available in the peer review docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2026-2246 at www.regulations.gov. To have your comments on the draft technical support documents and draft charge questions considered by the SACC for peer review, they must be submitted to the peer review docket listed above no later than July 23, 2026. EPA will release draft risk evaluations for 1,1,2-trichloroethane; 1,2-dichloropropane; ethylene dibromide; and trans-1,2-dichloroethylene prior to the August SACC meeting. However, because of the unique and novel scientific approaches used in the human health and environmental assessments for these chemicals, the agency is only seeking peer review from the SACC on the draft technical document released today. EPA anticipates that the draft risk evaluations for these chemicals will use scientific approaches and techniques the SACC has previously commented on; therefore, EPA does not expect the need for an additional peer review of the forthcoming risk evaluations. |
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