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35 Ecology L.Q. 721 (2008)
Synthesizing TSCA and REACH: Practical Principles for Chemical Regulation Reform

handle is hein.journals/eclawq35 and id is 729 raw text is: Synthesizing TSCA and REACH: Practical Principles for Chemical Regulation Reform John S. Applegate* The European Union's newly enacted comprehensive regulation for industrial chemicals, known as REACH, draws heavily on three decades of experience in the United States under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Much of that experience has been negative-TSCA is widely regarded as a disappointment among US. environmental laws-and so REACH deliberately reverses many of the legislative choices that Congress made in TSCA. REACH also takes advantage of important new regulatory devices that were not available to the framers of TSCA thirty years ago, The passage of REACH has sparked renewed interest in reforming TSCA, and the reformers will undoubtedly look to REACH for ideas. This Article contends that, while many aspects of REACH can fairly be understood as the Anti-TSCA, on closer examination, REACH follows many of TSCA's fundamental approaches to chemical regulation. These similarities offer a unique opportunity to develop a synthesis of the two regulatory regimes, which could form the practical basis for updating TSCA. While reform based on a synthesis of TSCA and REACH would be evolutionary rather than revolutionary, it could nevertheless greatly improve chemical regulation in the United States. The basis for such reform is likely to remain a risk-based, chemical-based, and cost-sensitive system. Nevertheless, a stronger commitment to progressive improvement could be obtained by a consistent effort to eliminate the most dangerous chemicals, the development of safety plans for the remainder, and consistent incentives to find Copyright C 2008 by the Regents of the University of California. * Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Walter W. Foskett Professor of Law, Indiana University Maurer School of Law-Bloomington. I am grateful to Bernard Goldstein and the European Union Center of Excellence and Graduate School of Public Health of the University of Pittsburgh for the invitation to participate in an excellent conference on REACH; to the participants in the conference, whose contributions greatly improved my understanding of REACH; to E. Donald Elliott for the opportunity to present this Article at his regulation seminar at Georgetown University Law Center; to him, Gail Charnley, and Ernest Rosenberg for many helpful comments; and to Wendy Wagner for her collaboration on the TSCA chapter of CPR for the Environment (http://www.progressivereform.org), where some of these ideas first appeared.

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