EPA Announces Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals Meeting for Phthalates Undergoing TSCA Risk Evaluation

Released June 10, 2025

EPA is announcing a virtual public meeting to be held on August 4-8, 2025, for the agency’s Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) to discuss the draft risk evaluations and associated materials for the five phthalates that are currently undergoing risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). These five phthalates are dibutyl phthalate (DBP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), and dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP). EPA will also hold a preparatory virtual public meeting on July 21, 2025, for the SACC and the public to consider and ask questions regarding the scope and clarity of the draft charge questions. The draft charge questions will be made available in the peer review docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2024-0551 by June 16, 2025.

Peer Review of Risk Evaluation and Supporting Documents

The SACC will peer review all documents released in January 2025 and June 2025 related to the risk evaluation of the five phthalates, including:

  • The draft risk evaluation and associated technical support documents for DCHP, posted to the chemical’s TSCA docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0504.
  • The draft risk evaluations associated technical support documents for DBP and DEHP, posted to TSCA dockets EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0503 and EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0433, respectively. For more information, read EPA’s announcement on June 4, 2025.
  • A technical support document (TSD) entitled Draft Meta Analysis and Benchmark Dose Modeling of Fetal Testicular Testosterone for BBP, DBP, DEHP, DIBP, and DCHP, available in each of the five chemicals’ TSCA dockets and the peer review docket.
  • A draft carcinogenicity assessment and a revised draft cumulative risk analysis for the five phthalates entitled Revised Draft Technical Support Document for the Cumulative Risk Analysis of Di(2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate (DEHP), Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Butyl Benzyl Phthalate (BBP), Diisobutyl Phthalate (DIBP), Dicyclohexyl Phthalate (DCHP), and Diisononyl Phthalate (DINP) Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), available in each of the five chemicals’ TSCA dockets and the peer review docket.

Because the SACC is reviewing several TSDs that will support the risk evaluations for BBP and DIBP, EPA will consider the SACC recommendations from this upcoming peer review when developing the risk evaluations and unreasonable risk determinations for these two chemicals. Therefore, EPA does not expect the need for an additional peer review of the forthcoming risk evaluations for BBP and DIBP.

For more information on the draft risk evaluations, please contact the following individuals. You can also visit the public dockets for each chemical listed below.

Documents related to the peer review can be found in docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2024-0551.

Public Comment and Registration

EPA will accept written comments on the draft risk evaluations and technical support documents for consideration by the SACC for peer review, on or before July 25, 2025. For consideration by the SACC during the peer review meeting, written comments should be submitted by July 21, 2025, to the peer review docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2024-0551.

To present oral comments during the preparatory meeting, registration should be completed by July 14, 2025, and a written version of oral comments should be submitted by July 18, 2025. For attendees not making oral comments, registration will remain open through the end of this meeting on July 21, 2025.

To present oral comments during the peer review meeting, registration should be completed by July 28, 2025, and a written version of oral comments should be submitted by Aug. 1, 2025. For attendees not making oral comments, registration will remain open through the end of this meeting on Aug. 8, 2025.

Registration instructions for the virtual preparatory and peer review meetings will be announced on the SACC website approximately one month prior to each meeting, including information about how to register to present oral comments during the meeting.

For additional information on the SACC peer review, please see the Federal Register notice or contact the Designated Federal Official, Dr. Alaa Kamel kamel.alaa@epa.gov.   

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Last updated on June 10, 2025