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Under TSCA, large amounts of information on chemical hazards is produced each 

 year by industry. But these data on the immunological, neurological, developmental 

 or other effects of chemicals are not generally finding their way into the hands of 

 workers, citizens, regulators, and health professionals, in this regard, TSCA is not 

 working. 



Members of the public, including the 1,500 State and local groups with which we 

 work, seldom currently use TSCA data. The public would, however, benefit both di- 

 rectly and indirectly from readily available access by health professionals, policy an- 

 alysts, safety and health officials, and to better organized and managed data with- 

 out excessive confidential business information (CBI). Better data management is 

 essential for meaningful public access. Changes in CBI procedures and administra- 

 tion are needed in EPA's TSCA program to reduce excessive CBI and to effectively 

 disseminate information on chemical hazards. 



We offer the following comments to reduce excessive CBI and to make the data 

 more accessible and useful to the public. 



I. Goals 



EPA should work to: 



• Make the data useful. Enable the public and regulators (state and federal) 

 to quickly determine through computer searches the scope of both public and 

 confidential data. 



• Use resources effectively. Use class determinations, up-fi'ont substantiation, 

 penalties, and other means to reduce the staff time and resources now used 

 challenging CBI claims. (Not all challenges are wasteful, but many could be pre- 

 vented.) 



II. Organizing Principles 



To meet these goals, EPA must: 



• Respect peoples' time. TSCA data must be perceived as organized and ra- 

 tional by data users. Difficult and fi^strating data searches present real bar- 

 riers to data access, especially for those members of the public who lack re- 

 sources, organizational support, or training. 



• Make certain common elements uniformly public. A well organized data 

 base must have elements that are common to all records. Common health and 

 safety elements include: 



— chemical name and CAS number 2; and 



— information that is already public including company name, address, 

 phone, and name of official signing the submission. 



If revealing both chemical and submitter identity could disclose trade secret 

 information, then in these limited cases criteria similar to the four common 

 sense standards listed under EPCRA § 322(b) could be used to maintain con- 

 fidentiality. EPCRA § 322(b) submitters must show that: 



— the company has not already disclosed the information; 



— another law does not require disclosure of the information; 



— disclosure would cause substantial harm; and 



— the chemical identity is not readily discoverable through reverse engi- 

 neering. 



However, common elements and uniform organization alone are not enough to 

 draw in public users. EPA must also: 



• identify and index basic information. Support searches for: 



— chemical specific hazard information (whether the chemical is a 

 known or potential mutagen, carcinogen, neurotoxin, etc.); 



— environmental media (land, air, water, groundwater, public sewers, 

 etc.); and 



— potentially exposed populations (wildlife, workers, consumers, etc.). 



2 Some industries have indicated that TSCA CBI creates difficulties for chemical users in de- 

 termining the TSCA status of chemicals (comments of the Electronic Industries Association, May 

 14, 1993). These comments are consistent with the need for standard reporting of chemical iden- 

 tifiers to facilitate public use of the data. 



