Interagency Testing Committee

Section 4(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) created the TSCA Interagency Testing Committee (ITC) as an independent advisory committee to the Administrator of the U.S. EPA. The ITC was created to make recommendations to the EPA Administrator on prioritizing and selecting chemicals for testing or information reporting to meet the coordinated data needs of its member U.S. Government organizations. These chemicals are added to the “Priority Testing List”. The ITC meets every six months to discuss testing needs, and transmits any recommended revisions to the Priority Testing List to the EPA Administrator for action and publication in the Federal Register.

U.S. Government Member Organizations

The ITC includes 14 U.S. Government Member organizations.  Statutory members include:

• Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Council on Environmental Quality
• Department of Commerce
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Food and Drug Administration
• National Cancer Institute
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• National Science Foundation
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Liaison members include:

• Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
• Department of Defense
• Department of the Interior
• U.S. Department of Agriculture

Data collection

Under TSCA, EPA has broad authority to issue regulations or orders, or to enter to enforceable consent agreements (ECAs), to

• Require manufacturers (including importers) or processors to test chemical substances and mixtures (TSCA Section 4) and report their findings to EPA;
• Gather information on chemical manufacturing, processing and use (TSCA Section 8(a));
• Gather chemical health and safety information from manufacturers (including importers), processors or distributors in unpublished health and safety studies (TSCA Section 8(d).

This hazard and exposure data is important information that enables the government to better identify, prioritize and assess potential risks to human health and the environment.

Learn more about EPA data development and information collection to assess risks.

ITC Reports

The ITC delivers reports to the EPA Administrator every six months and these reports are made publicly available in the Federal Register.