CHEMLIST: Toxic Substances Control Act Chemical Substance Inventory (TSCA)

The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), 15 U.S.C. 2601-2671, is a federal law authorizing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to gather information on potential risks to human health and the environment for chemicals manufactured, distributed in commerce, processed, used, or disposed. In general, the chemicals subject to TSCA are those not regulated by other laws such as the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. For details on the categories of substances regulated by TSCA, refer to Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 710.

CHEMLIST summaries dealing with the rules and regulatory actions under the various sections of TSCA are searched and displayed based on field codes specified for each section or subsection of the law. Some 19 sections and subsections of TSCA are covered.

Section 8(b) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify, compile, keep current, and publish a list of chemical substances manufactured, imported, or processed for commercial purposes in the United States. This list, the TSCA Chemical Substance Inventory, or TSCA Inventory, was first published in 1979. Since 1980 it has been continually updated with new substances reported in premanufacture notices (PMNs) for which notices of commencement of manufacture or import have been received by EPA. Information on national inventories covered by CHEMLIST, including the TSCA Inventory, is given in the INV field.

Over 73,000 substances are on the TSCA Inventory, which is divided into two parts: those substances whose specific identity is given in publicly available media, and those whose specific identity has been claimed as confidential by the submitter and therefore identified in publicly available media by a generic name. The CBI field values in CHEMLIST are "Public" for the former and "Confidential" for the latter. New substances added to the TSCA Inventory that are announced in the Federal Register or appear on the TSCA Inventory computer tapes available from the National Technical Information Service are included in CHEMLIST as they appear or become available.

EPA periodically removes substances from the TSCA Inventory that were erroneously or inappropriately reported, or never manufactured, imported, or processed for non-exempt commercial purposes. Some substances that were once on the Inventory have been removed. These substances are identified in the INV field by the phrase "Removed from TSCA Inventory" together with the Federal Register or printed Inventory reference.

For additional information on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), please contact:

 TSCA Assistance Information Service (7408)
 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
 401 M Street, S.W.
 Washington, D.C. 20460

 EPA/TSCA Hotline 1-202-554-1404