Shannon M McDonnery (EDT), Cindy L. Elroy (EDT) Chemical Regulation in the EU

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Chemicals play an important role in everyday life. However, some chemicals are highly toxic and need to be regulated. In 1976, Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to control chemicals that pose an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment, but some have questioned whether TSCA provides EPA with enough tools to protect against chemical risks. Like the United States, the European Union (EU) has laws governing the production and use of chemicals. The EU has recently revised its chemical control policy through legislation known as Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) in order to better identify and mitigate risks from chemicals.