SOCMA: Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates

Washington, DC – Amid renewed debate over the effectiveness of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), SOCMA today released its official position on the decades-old statute, denouncing a complete overhaul as overly burdensome to its core membership of small and medium-sized businesses.

“SOCMA’s stance on TSCA provides a unique contribution to the discussion waging on Capitol Hill,” said SOCMA President Joseph Acker.  “While we fully recognize TSCA’s shortcomings, we urge critics to carefully examine how it could be improved and better implemented without disturbing the delicate balance between protection of human health and the environment, and sustainment of a vital industry and its customers.”

Specifically, SOCMA is pressing lawmakers to reexamine the important role of the Chemical Assessment and Management Program (ChAMP) and other statutes that regulate chemicals as it assesses whether better use of existing authorities could meet their goals.

Acker stressed however that any evaluation of TSCA must recognize that the chemical industry’s innovation has played an integral role in the U.S. economy, and that sweeping revisions could prove highly detrimental to Americans’ way of life.  A complete overhaul, as proposed by the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act, could also delay the introduction of new products and hasten the move to offshore manufacturing.

“The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act would bring an unproven REACH-like system to the U.S.” Acker explained.

SOCMA’s position on TSCA reform outlines several increasingly prominent issues, including the importance of reporting potential exposures to children to EPA, and the agency’s unique data collection avenues absent mandatory up-front reporting requirements, such as the publicly available data that will be generated from REACH compliance efforts. SOCMA has repeatedly urged Congress to carefully examine TSCA and ChAMP before considering revision of these statutes, as it did most recently during testimony before a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee. 

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson recently recognized that improvements could be made to the existing chemicals program, but suggested that EPA could derive a model for chemicals management from its existing process for handling new chemicals. In a February 27th interview, she noted that “…there is extraordinary expertise to be tapped if you look at how this agency looks at new chemicals, and it does it in an effective way, and an efficient way, it's timely.”

Next week, SOCMA will co-host an event on the future of TSCA reform and other topics during the 2009 GlobalChem Conference and Exhibition,  April 6-8th in Baltimore, Md. EPA will provide updates on its activities including ChAMP developments, the Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program and electronic reporting. Industry representatives will also discuss the challenges they face in the current regulatory climate.

In an effort to better serve its stakeholders and further its mission, SOCMA has formally adopted the name “Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates.” It was previously known as the “Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association.”

To read SOCMA’s position on TSCA reform, click here.

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SOCMA is the leading trade association, serving the batch, custom and specialty chemical industry since 1921. SOCMA’s nearly 300 members employ more than 100,000 workers across the country and produce 50,000 products valued at $60 billion annually. For more information please visit www.socma.com.

ChemStewards® is SOCMA’s flagship environmental, health, safety and security (EHS&S) continuous performance improvement program.  ChemStewards was created from industry’s commitment to reducing the environmental footprint left by member’s facilities.  Industry created ChemStewards to meet the unique needs of the batch, custom, and specialty chemical industry. As a mandatory requirement for SOCMA members engaged in the manufacturing or handling of synthetic and organic chemicals, ChemStewards is helping participants reach for superior EHS&S performance.  To learn more visit www.chemstewards.com.