Client Alert Newsletter

EPA Sets High Production Volume Chemical Hazard Characterizations

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA's") High Production Volume ("HPV") Challenge Program, initiated in 1998, encourages companies to report health and environmental effects data for chemicals they produce in or import to the United States in quantities of one million pounds or more per year. From the data collected to date, EPA recently released the first set of hazard characterizations for 101 HPV chemicals. EPA based the characterizations on its scientific review of the screening-level hazard and/or toxicity data voluntarily submitted by companies through the program as well as from data independently collected by EPA. EPA has indicated that in addition to expanding the database of published HPV chemical hazard characterizations, it plans to begin developing HPV chemical risk characterizations later this year. The current list of HPV chemical hazard characterizations can be found at http://www.epa.gov/htp/hpvis.