Vinyl chloride is a known human carcinogen that has been sickening people for decades. Urge EPA Administrator Michael Regan to ban vinyl chloride as quickly as possible under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

Background

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to ban vinyl chloride under the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA). TSCA is a federal law that provides EPA with broad authority to regulate chemicals across their lifecycle, from manufacturing through disposal. The law requires EPA:

• Ensure that any chemical in commerce does not present “unreasonable risk” in connection with the circumstances under which that chemical substance is intended, known, or reasonably foreseen to be manufactured, processed, distributed in commerce, used, or disposed of,

• This includes foreseeable but unplanned events like the weekly releases of vinyl chloride from accidents, leaks and spills. (Ex: the East Palestine derailment in 2023)

• Determine whether the chemical presents unreasonable risk to any “potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulation,” such as infants, children, pregnant women, workers, or the elderly.

• EPA’s risk evaluation must take into account aggregate and cumulative risks from all pathways of exposure, using all reasonably available information (which includes information that EPA can reasonably gather and generate).

In December 2023, the U.S. EPA named vinyl chloride as one of the five chemicals that is a candidate for high-priority designation. Once EPA formally designates vinyl chloride as high priority – which will likely happen by December 23, 2024 – EPA will conduct a cradle-to-grave risk evaluation process, followed by a risk management rule-making process. During the risk management process, EPA can decide to ban vinyl chloride.