• Information from “health and safety studies” is not protected, unless disclosure would reveal specific manufacturing and processing information or a mixture’s chemical proportions.

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) section 14(b) provides that certain categories of information are not protected from disclosure. In particular, information from “health and safety studies” is not protected, unless disclosure would reveal specific manufacturing and processing information or a mixture’s chemical proportions. It is presumed that information can be released when it pertains to chemicals that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has banned or phased out.

For specific chemical identities determined to warrant confidential treatment, TSCA section 14 requires the use of unique generic identifiers when disclosing the chemical names may provide information about the structure and identity of a chemical substance.

Even when information warrants confidential treatment, section 14 establishes circumstances in which such information may or must be disclosed. For instance, such information must be disclosed for certain law enforcement purposes, or to states, localities, tribes, and health or environmental professionals if EPA determines that disclosure is necessary to protect health or the environment against an unreasonable risk.