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In addition, the preventive aspects of TSCA would be greatly en- 

 hanced if industry were to develop the engineering controls and 

 protective equipment to assure that workers are not subject to po- 

 tentially harmful exposures when new chemicals are introduced or 

 new uses or new hazards are found for existing chemicals. NIOSH 

 would very much like to participate in the coordination of helping 

 to test some of these activities. 



Thank you for the opportunity to describe how NIOSH uses 

 TSCA data to suggest some changes that could provide increased 

 protection from chemical exposures for workers in the general pub- 

 lic. 



Mr. Chairman, I would be pleased to answer any questions you 

 have. 



Senator Reid. Dr. Goldman, when you were here previously, you 

 talked about the need to set priorities. With the large number of 

 chemicals we have in commerce, I believe this is crucial. 



Would it be advisable for us to identify in the statute certain cat- 

 egories or criteria for prioritizing the testing of chemicals? 



And if you agree, what categories or criteria would you rec- 

 ommend? 



Dr. GrOLDMAN. I do think that it would be helpful if Congress 

 were to specify some categories of priority chemicals. One of the 

 things that could be quite useful is that for certain chemicals 

 standard test data would be required to be available. That would 

 help also reduce the burden for testing. 



Some of the specific areas of guidance that would be useful — one 

 would be chemicals that are regulated in other EPA programs or 

 by other Federal regulatory agencies. There are also possibly cat- 

 egories of chemicals of concern that Congress might want to speci- 

 fy, such as the environmental hormones, or the bioaccumulative 

 chemicals. 



It is also possible that Congress might want to specify chemicals 

 with high exposure potentisd because of either consumer use or oc- 

 cupational exposures or even just volume of use of the chemicals. 



We do think this could be a useful approach. 



Senator Reid. Would either of you like to elaborate on her state- 

 ment? Would it be advisable for us to prioritize the testing of 

 chemicals in certain categories or criteria? 



Mr. Dear. It could be very helpful. Again, what we have to have 

 in order to establish priorities is good information. In order to regu- 

 late effectively, we need to know whether or not the substance in 

 question poses a significant risk. By making it more clear what 

 data is required — perhaps by making more of it available sooner — 

 it would greatly assist OSHA in its standard-setting operations. 



Dr. ROSENSTOCK. I would like to endorse that. I think implicit in 

 that answer is something that Dr. Groldman referred to earlier. We 

 have an extremely high need for better use data. If we are going 

 to prioritize chemicals, we must be paying attention to where the 

 hazards are. If we're going to use the model of primary prevention 

 at its source, we need to know where they are. I think 

 prioritization that reflects that component would be very useful. 



Senator Reid. I think the record should also reflect that I believe 

 that OSHA and your office. Dr. Groldman, are fortunate to have 

 M.D.s. We don't have this often in these types of hearings. You are 



