REAUTHORIZATION OF THE TOXIC 

 SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT 



TUESDAY, MAY 17, 1994 



U.S. Senate, 

 Committee on Environment and Public Works, 

 Subcommittee on Toxic Substances, Research and 



Development, 

 Washington, DC. 

 The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m. in room 

 406, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Harry Reid [chairman of 

 the subcommittee] presiding. 

 Present: Senator Reid. 



OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. HARRY REID, U.S. SENATOR 

 FROM THE STATE OF NEVADA 



Senator Reid. The hearing will come to order. 



We're here today to discuss the Toxic Substances Control Act, the 

 quiet environmental statute that doesn't generally receive the at- 

 tention that other environmental issues do. In some respects, its si- 

 lence is odd because TSCA gives EPA significant authority and be- 

 cause many of the original intentions behind TSCA are somewhat 

 radical and seem oddly contemporary. As many people now recog- 

 nize, TSCA was really our first pollution prevention statute. This 

 statute's fundamental concept is preventive, going back to the 

 source — that is, to the manufacturers and processors of chemicals — 

 to prevent and control downstream hazards. 



This is particularly true to the new chemical program which re- 

 quired the EPA to consider the potential health and environmental 

 effects of chemicals before they're even manufactured. This preven- 

 tive approach makes sense from the standpoint of protecting our 

 health and getting the most protection that we can for the dollars 

 we spend. It's an approach we've been returning to as we've crafted 

 bills reauthorizing other environmental statutes like the Safe 

 Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act, which acknowledged 

 the importance of protecting water sources before they become pol- 

 luted. 



Another sensible principle in TSCA is the idea that manufactur- 

 ers have certain responsibilities for their products. Section 2 of 

 TSCA recognizes the responsibility of manufacturers and proc- 

 essors to develop data on the health and environmental effects of 

 the chemicals they produce. TSCA sets up the expectation that the 

 industry should be conducting tests, not the government. 



We'll talk some today about how this responsibility should go be- 

 yond testing chemical use and the management of risks. In addi- 



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