EPA cracks down on chemicals

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a new rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act that requires manufacturing companies to test and submit results on 19 high-production-volume chemicals, many of which are used in household and personal-care products, according to an EPA press release.

In early January, the EPA announced that companies will be required to test the health and environmental affects of the 19 chemicals—many of which are used in dyes, fluids, and fingerprint agents, for example—after companies voluntarily supplied the EPA with data on more than 2,200 HPV chemicals, but failed to provide health and environmental data on the 19 in question.

HPV chemicals are produced or imported in the U.S. in quantities of 1 million pounds or more annually.