114 



My statement, which I will be submitting for the record, talks 

 about the need to set priorities. Mr. Chairman, you have heard tes- 

 timony from other witnesses on the importance of doing that. I also 

 want to emphasize how critical setting priorities is to making 

 TSCA a successful statute. 



I would like to close with some observations on approaches that 

 have the potentisd to make TSCA a more comprehensive toxics con- 

 trol program. 



First, the Community Right-to-Know Act has demonstrated the 

 benefits of public disclosure and putting the powerful spotlight of 

 public opinion on polluters. Unfortunately, most of the information 

 now submitted under TSCA is claimed as confidential and cannot 

 be shared with the public and State health and environmental offi- 

 cials responsible for protecting the public. 



In addition to steps EPA is currently taking to challenge these 

 excessive confidentiality claims. Congress could revise TSCA to 

 limit the types of information that industry can claim as confiden- 

 tial. In addition. Congress could give EPA the authority to provide 

 States access to confidential business information, provided they 

 implement satisfactory procedures to protect such information from 

 unauthorized disclosure. 



Finally, even with the changes I have discussed, TSCA's chemi- 

 cal by chemical approach may still prove insufficient to address 

 anything but a handful of the most serious chemical risks. Con- 

 sequently, a substantial amount of toxic pollutants will continue to 

 enter the environment. A different approach is to set goals for re- 

 ducing the use of toxic chemicals overall. Under this approach, a 

 revised TSCA could establish national goals for reductions in the 

 use of toxic chemicals and provide EPA with various tools and in- 

 dustry with various incentives to achieve these goals. Establishing 

 such long-term goals for overall reductions of toxic chemicals could 

 be a useful supplement to TSCA's other provisions, which focus on 

 reviewing individual chemicals in order to identify and control the 

 more serious health and environmental risks. 



That concludes my statement, Mr. Chairman. I would be pleased 

 to answer questions. 



Senator Reid. We will hear from Mr. Hagerman and Dr. CJeiser 

 before the questions. 



Mr, Hagerman? 



STATEMENT OF ROBERT L. HAGERMAN, RESEARCH 

 ASSOCIATE, DOW CHEMICAL CO. 



Mr. Hagerman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



I have provided a written statement that is somewhat longer 

 than these comments, so I will try to summarize. 



Senator Reid. Without objection, your prepared statement will 

 appear in the record. 



Mr. Hagerman. Thank you. 



I appreciate the opportunity to discuss Dow's perspectives on 

 TSCA with you today. 



As a background for the remainder of my comments, I would 

 note that Dow views TSCA primarily as a statute designed to sup- 

 port or supplement other environ:^ental or health-related statutes. 

 We believe that most TSCA problems can be fixed administratively. 



