EPA Releases Draft Scope Document for Vinyl Chloride TSCA Risk Evaluation
Released January 15, 2025
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the draft scope document for the risk evaluation for vinyl chloride under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for public comment. The scope document includes the conditions of use (COU), potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations, hazards, and exposures that EPA expects to consider in its risk evaluation.
Vinyl chloride is a colorless gas primarily used in the manufacturing and processing of plastic materials like polyvinyl chloride, plastic resins, and other chemicals. Many of these materials are used for pipes, insulating materials and consumer goods. Vinyl chloride is a known human carcinogen and can cause liver, brain, and lung cancer in exposed workers. Short-term exposure to vinyl chloride can also result in other health effects such as dizziness, nausea, and eye and skin irritation. Vinyl chloride exposure can also damage genetic material in cells, which can lead to numerous adverse health effects. In the 1970s, the White House Council on Environmental Quality and EPA officials raised serious concerns about the health impacts of vinyl chloride. These concerns were the impetus for Congress to write the original TSCA law in 1976 to ensure chemicals were made and used safely.
EPA proposed to designate vinyl chloride and four other chemicals as High-Priority Substances for risk evaluation under TSCA in July 2024 and finalized this designation of all five chemicals in December 2024. To ensure EPA meets statutory deadlines for risk evaluations, EPA is working toward releasing draft scope documents earlier in the process, with the ultimate goal of releasing draft scope documents with final high-priority designations in the future.
For vinyl chloride, EPA plans to evaluate manufacturing (including importing); processing; distribution in commerce; industrial, commercial, and consumer uses; and disposal of vinyl chloride in the risk evaluation. EPA identified these COUs from information reported to the Agency through the Chemical Data Reporting rule, public comments during the prioritization process, and other publicly available data sources including emissions databases, safety data sheets, published literature, and company websites. EPA generally does not include in the scope of the risk evaluation catastrophic accidents, extreme weather events, and other natural disasters if such events do not lead to regular and predictable exposures associated with a given condition of use. However, such a determination requires a fact-specific, chemical-by-chemical analysis. Thus, EPA would consider including such events in the scope of the risk evaluation if the Agency receives information indicating regular and predictable—reasonably foreseeable—changes in exposures associated with these events.
Upon publication of the Federal Register notice, EPA will accept public comments on the vinyl chloride draft scope document for 45 days via docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0448 on regulations.gov.