Washington, DC -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission and
the Environmental Protection Agency have agreed to increased
cooperation when dealing with toxic and hazardous substances found in
the home and environment. Nothing that various segments of their
organizations already have been working together for some time, the
two Federal health and safety regulatory agencies have signed an
interagency agreement calling for increased cooperative activities in
seven areas of mutual interest.
Common approaches will be sought to assessing health risks to
humans exposed to toxic and hazardous substances. For example, as a
result of this agreement, a new CPSC-EPA group is working to develop
common guidelines for the use of pharmacokinetics in risk
assessments. Further, the agencies are seeking to coordinate risk
reduction activities where some chemical or group of chemicals is
being studied by both agencies. For example, chlorinated solvents
used in dry-cleaning, degreasing, paint stripping and aerosols are
being jointly studied to develop regulatory options to reduce any
cancer risk.
Other area of cooperation include developing better methods of
communicating information to the public on health and environmental
risks, sharing information on the emerging science of biotechnology,
developing common approaches to handling household hazardous wastes,
evaluating ways of mitigating indoor air quality problems and
exploring potential cooperative activities in the agencies'
laboratories and field offices throughout the U.S.
Cooperation will not be restricted to these specific activities.
However, the agreement notes that the agencies also will work
together on other activities which are believed to be mutually
beneficial. Terrence Scanlon, Chairman of the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission, stated that these effort should help the two
agencies make efficient use of resources in the process of protecting
the public health and environment while lessening the burden on
regulated industries, the public and the agencies themselves.