NASF Joins Over 100 Industry Associations to Support Federal TSCA Reform

The National Association for Surface Finishing (NASF) was one of over 120 trade associations that signed onto a letter sent to Congress under the umbrella of the American Alliance for Innovation (AAI) in support of meaningful changes to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The law, first enacted in 1976, is the current U.S. federal legal framework governing the introduction and use of chemicals in commerce. According to the NASF, the effort is intended to overhaul and modernize the federal chemical law.

The AAI is a coalition that includes a range of chemical manufacturers, processors and distributors, as well as downstream users in the value chain. Recently, individual states such as California, Maine, Washington and others have adopted their own chemicals management regimes. Faced with a patchwork of laws with conflicting requirements along with growing pressures to voluntarily deselect materials affecting the value chain, NASF members and companies across the U.S. manufacturing sector want to regain federal uniformity and re-instill consumer confidence in product safety.

Two reasons for reform efforts include polls demonstrating declining U.S. public confidence in the chemicals sector and the assertive requirements of the European Union’s REACH framework, having jumped ahead of U.S. chemicals rules in shaping global and domestic corporate decisions on materials choices, according to the NASF.

The NASF will be coordinating with the AAI through 2015 and will brief attendees of the Washington Forum April 14-16 on the status and prospects for reform.