Tom Berger and James Votaw Mentioned in the Ink World Article, "Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act is Impacting the Ink Industry"

Keller and Heckman Partners Tom Berger and James Votaw were mentioned in the Ink World article, “Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act is Impacting the Ink Industry.” The article discusses how, in 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) implemented the Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act (LCSA or New TSCA), which was an attempt to simplify the existing regulatory approach. However, it may have had unintended consequences, including slowing down the approval process and higher costs for approvals.

According to Mr. Berger and Mr. Votaw, new and existing inks and ink products have been adversely impacted by LCSA, noting that companies developing new inks for manufacture, import, and/or use in the U.S. have had to navigate a more onerous and protracted TSCA Section 5 new chemical premanufacture notification (PMN) process. The amendments require the EPA to approve the manufacture of a new chemical considering all the chemical’s known and reasonably foreseeable uses. This has slowed EPA’s approval of new chemicals, which now may take six to nine months or longer.

When new inks and ink products are approved for manufacture, Mr. Berger and Mr. Votaw said they may be made subject to manufacturing and use conditions such as TSCA significant new use rules (SNUR), which may mandate the use of supplied-air respirators, restrict processing and handling methods to those that do not generate vapors, mists, and aerosols, limit or outright prohibit surface water releases of the substance, and impose other types of restrictions.

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