The Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) within the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) is tasked with evaluating and managing chemical risks resulting from exposures to new and existing chemicals. The evaluation of these chemicals is done through the implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) which requires the identification and evaluation of exposures and risks to potentially exposed susceptible subpopulations (PESS). Increasing evidence shows communities, particularly those considered overburdened or subject to environmental justice concerns, may be exposed to multiple co-occurring chemicals. The TSCA risk assessment process for existing chemicals has historically focused on developing and implementing risk assessment methodologies for individual chemicals that consider exposure routes and pathways separately. EPA OPPT has recently begun to combine routes and pathways, when appropriate, into aggregate assessments for individual chemicals, and has begun developing methodologies to evaluate cumulative risks from multiple chemicals. OPPT is soliciting comments from the Science Advisory Board (SAB) and the public on the proposed metrics and methods to identify and evaluate chemical co-exposure or areas where multiple chemical exposures may occur in the same geographic space.
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