Martha Marrapese Discusses EPA’s Conflicting Toxicity Data on Chemicals

September 23, 2020

Martha E. Marrapese, partner in Wiley’s Environment & Product Regulation Practice, was quoted by Bloomberg Law’s Environment & Energy Report in an article about emerging data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that may conflict with older EPA data regarding the potential toxicity of various chemicals.

The EPA’s chemicals office is releasing updated toxicity values as part of the risk evaluations required under the amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). These numbers are expected to differ from decades-old toxicity data from the agency’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), Bloomberg Law reported. The conflicting information has led to disagreements about whether the older or newer data is more accurate, and prompted concerns that it could lead to “shopping” by stakeholders, for numbers that best serve their respective interests, according to the article.

Ms. Marrapese told Bloomberg Law that “if the up-to-date number is advantageous to my client, I’d advocate for change.”

But she questioned the extent to which attorneys would play a numbers game. “If people think forum shopping’s going to help them, I don’t think so – TSCA’s too rigorous,” she said, pointing to the law’s scientific requirements.

At the end of the day, Ms. Marrapese said, she welcomes the more current information on toxicity values. “To the extent we need updated values to protect public health, the TSCA numbers could be a good thing,” she said.

The article can be found here (subscription required).

Ms. Marrapese notes that she was interviewed for this article based on her knowledge of the law and the science. Wiley’s Product Regulation Practice excels at effectively capturing both aspects of TSCA on behalf of clients.