TSCA Part 1

TSCA Part 1 refers to the first phase of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's risk evaluation of asbestos under the amended Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Finalized in December 2020, it assessed health risks from chrysotile asbestos in six specific ongoing commercial uses, including chlor-alkali diaphragms, sheet gaskets, brake blocks, and certain aftermarket automotive friction products. EPA concluded that these uses presented an unreasonable risk to workers, occupational bystanders, consumers, and the general population, setting the stage for the 2024 ban on chrysotile asbestos.

Origin

The Toxic Substances Control Act was enacted in 1976, but its asbestos provisions were strengthened by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act of 2016, which required EPA to evaluate high-priority existing chemicals. EPA designated asbestos one of the first ten chemicals for review in 2016 and issued the Part 1 Risk Evaluation in December 2020. A Part 2 evaluation, addressing legacy uses and other asbestos fiber types, followed.

Significance in Asbestos Context

TSCA Part 1 is an official federal acknowledgment, published decades after the dangers were known to industry, that chrysotile asbestos was still being imported and used in the United States and was still causing unreasonable risk of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other diseases. For patients diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, this matters because it directly contradicts the long-running industry argument that chrysotile is meaningfully safer than amphibole asbestos and that modern exposures are too low to cause harm. The risk evaluation's findings on specific products (gaskets, brake friction products, chlor-alkali diaphragms) can support causation evidence in cases involving workers exposed in those industries through the 2000s and 2010s. It also underpins EPA's March 2024 final rule banning chrysotile asbestos, which is the regulatory record your legal team may cite to rebut defendants who argue ongoing uses were safe.

Example Sentence

Her attorney pointed to EPA's TSCA Part 1 Risk Evaluation as federal confirmation that the chrysotile gaskets her husband handled at the refinery into the 2010s posed an unreasonable cancer risk.

Related Terms

Chrysotile, EPA Asbestos Ban (2024), Lautenberg Act, Unreasonable Risk Determination, Chlor-Alkali Industry, Legacy Uses

Notes

• If your exposure occurred at a chlor-alkali plant, in sheet gasket handling, in brake or clutch repair, or in oilfield drilling (where asbestos-containing brake blocks were used), ask your attorney whether TSCA Part 1 findings apply to your specific work history.
• Preserve any employment records, purchase orders, MSDS/SDS sheets, or product packaging from post-2000 exposures. TSCA Part 1 confirms these uses continued and helps tie modern products to known risk.
• Be aware that TSCA Part 1 covered only chrysotile and only six ongoing uses; legacy uses (older in-place materials) and other fiber types were addressed separately in Part 2, so the correct citation depends on your exposure facts.
• The full Risk Evaluation document is publicly available on EPA's website and can be requested through your legal team as part of the expert record.