As part of EPA's commitment to increase the public's right to know about chemicals in their communities, the agency is making available information on health and environmental data for 2,011 chemicals.
The information on the chemicals will be made available by 403 companies.
This initiative, the High Production Volume (HPV) Chemical Challenge Program, is part of Vice President Al Gore's commitment to inform the public about toxic chemicals.
The voluntary effort makes basic screening-level toxicity information available to the public on chemicals manufactured or imported into the United States in amounts over 1 million pounds a year.
The companies, either individually or as part of 148 consortia, will, if needed, use the same tests, testing protocols and information summary formats used by international cooperative efforts to secure basic toxicity information on HPV chemicals world wide.
This initiative is in response to an EPA study that found there is little toxicity information publicly available on the HPV chemicals.
EPA hopes that such information will increase public understanding of how these chemicals could pose potential risks to human health or the environment.
Additional information can be found at www.epa.gov/chemrtk