EPA Announces Changes to PMN Review – Clearer Policy on “Possible Future Uses”

At the 2019 GlobalChem conference, Greg Schweer, the EPA Chief of the New Chemicals Management Branch said that the Agency now has a clearer policy to identify possible future uses of new chemical substances in its Premanufacture Notification (PMN) evaluations, reports Bloomberg Environment. The Lautenberg amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) require EPA to consider “conditions of use” in the review and determination of PMNs  The amendments defined conditions of use as “the circumstances, as determined by the Administrator, under which a chemical substance is intended, known, or reasonably foreseen to be manufactured, processed, distributed in commerce, used, or disposed of.”  Possible future uses is part of the “conditions of use” review. 

According to Bloomberg Environment, Schweer also stated that “EPA also may be able to allow more new chemicals [to] enter commerce without placing unwarranted manufacturing or use restrictions on the company that originally requested to produce the new compound.” 

When it becomes available, we will post a copy EPA’s new policy on reasonably foreseen uses.  In the interim, information about the EPA PMN process is available here.