Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act

The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act is a 2016 federal law that overhauled the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976. It gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stronger authority to evaluate and restrict chemicals already in commerce, including asbestos. Under this law, EPA was required to prioritize and conduct risk evaluations on high-concern substances, and asbestos was named among the first ten chemicals to be reviewed.

Origin

Named for Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey, who championed chemical safety reform for years before his death in 2013. Signed into law by President Barack Obama on June 22, 2016, the Act passed with broad bipartisan support after decades of criticism that the original 1976 TSCA was too weak to regulate dangerous chemicals, a failure made famous when a federal court vacated EPA's 1989 asbestos ban under the older statute.

Significance in Asbestos Context

For patients and families, this law is the legal vehicle behind EPA's 2024 rule banning chrysotile asbestos, the only form of asbestos still being imported and used in the United States at the time. Because the 1989 ban was struck down in Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA (1991), asbestos remained legal in many products for over three decades. The Lautenberg Act finally gave EPA the tools to act, and the resulting Part 1 and Part 2 risk evaluations document ongoing exposures from chlor-alkali plants, gaskets, brake blocks, sheet gaskets, and legacy uses. These EPA findings are increasingly cited in lawsuits to show that manufacturers and industrial users knew or should have known about continuing asbestos hazards well into the 21st century.

Example Sentence

The attorney explained that EPA's risk evaluation under the Lautenberg Act confirmed her husband's brake-repair work in the 2000s involved a product the federal government has since moved to ban.

Related Terms

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA, Chrysotile Ban (2024), EPA Risk Evaluation, Legacy Asbestos Uses, Chlor-Alkali Industry

Notes

• If your exposure occurred after 2016, ask your legal team whether EPA's Lautenberg-era risk evaluations identify the specific product, industry, or workplace involved. These documents can support knowledge and foreseeability arguments.
• Preserve any product packaging, safety data sheets (SDS), purchase records, or work orders from post-2000 exposures; the Lautenberg framework makes recent industrial asbestos use a key evidentiary issue.
• For exposures in chlor-alkali plants, oilfield gasket work, automotive brake repair, or sheet-gasket manufacturing, request that your attorney review EPA's Part 1 (2020) and Part 2 (2024) asbestos risk evaluations for occupational exposure findings relevant to your job.
• If a loved one worked with asbestos-containing products imported or sold after the Lautenberg Act took effect, this may be relevant to claims against importers and downstream users, not just historical manufacturers.