What Is TSCA?

The EPA says the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 provides it with authority to require reporting, record-keeping and testing, and to impose restrictions relating to chemical substances and mixtures, and that certain substances, including food, drugs, cosmetics and pesticides, are generally excluded. It says the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, signed into law on June 22, 2016, amends TSCA, the primary chemicals management law in the United States, and includes a mandatory requirement for EPA to evaluate existing chemicals with clear and enforceable deadlines.

The EPA describes risk evaluation as the second step in its existing chemical process, following prioritization and before risk management, with the purpose of determining whether a chemical presents an unreasonable risk to health or the environment under its conditions of use. It says TSCA section 8(b) requires it to compile, keep current and publish a list of each chemical substance manufactured or processed in the United States, the TSCA Inventory, which now lists more than 86,000 chemicals.

For PFAS, the EPA says it finalized reporting and recordkeeping requirements on October 11, 2023, requiring anyone who has manufactured or imported PFAS or PFAS-containing articles in any year since January 1, 2011, to report information on uses, production volumes, disposal, exposures and hazards. In an April 13, 2026 final rule, the EPA moved the start of the submission period to January 31, 2027, or 60 days after the effective date of a forthcoming final rule, whichever is earlier.

The EPA has also issued TSCA section 6 risk management rules. Its methylene chloride rule, published May 8, 2024, and effective July 8, 2024, addresses unreasonable risk to health, including by preventing consumer access to the chemical, and in November 2025 the EPA extended some compliance dates, giving non-federal laboratories 18 more months. On December 17, 2024, the EPA issued a final rule prohibiting all uses of trichloroethylene (TCE), most within one year, including manufacture and processing for most commercial and all consumer products, and as of May 18, 2026, it postponed the conditions on the rule's section 6(g) exemptions until judicial review concludes.