The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making available hundreds of studies on chemicals that were previously treated as confidential business information (CBI). EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said the move will increase transparency and enhance the agency's chemicals management program.

Newly available information can be found using EPA’s Chemical Data Access Tool.
 
“EPA is increasing the availability of critical health and safety studies on chemicals that children and families are exposed to every day,” said Steve Owens, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “Over the next year, we expect to review several thousand additional studies on industrial chemicals and make many of these more accessible to the public.”
 
Since 2009, 577 formerly confidential chemical identities are no longer confidential and more than 1,000 health and safety studies are now accessible to the public that were previously unavailable or only available in limited circumstances. In 2010 EPA issued new guidance outlining the agency’s plans to deny confidentiality claims for chemical identities in health and safety studies under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that are determined to not be entitled to CBI status. EPA has been reviewing CBI claims in new and existing TSCA filings containing health and safety studies. 
 
Consistent with the guidance, the agency will request that the submitter voluntarily relinquish the CBI claims and make the newly available studies available to the public. EPA also challenged the chemical industry to make available information that was previously classified as CBI. To date, more than 35 companies have agreed to review previously submitted filings containing health and safety studies and determine if any CBI claims may no longer be necessary. The newly available information can be found under a new “declassified tab” using the Chemical Data Access Tool, launched in December 2010 to assist the public in retrieving chemical health and safety information submitted to EPA under TSCA.
 
Additional information is available at: www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/transparency.html