Ten AGs Sent Comments on EPA’s Revised Supplement to 1,4-Dioxane Risk Evaluation

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 10 attorneys general in submitting comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) revised supplemental analysis to its risk assessment of 1,4-dioxane, a chemical compound covered by the Toxic Substances Control Act. The AGs explained that both EPA’s initial risk evaluation and its draft supplement to the evaluation failed to consider all uses and exposure pathways of the substance, omitting scenarios like landfill leaks contaminating drinking water. However, the revised version of the supplement “appropriately considered 1,4-dioxane as a ‘whole chemical,’ rather than on a condition of use-specific basis and justifiably determined that [it] presents an unreasonable risk of injury to human health under its current conditions of use,” the AGs explained. Thus, the AGs urged EPA to finalize the revised version of the supplement to the risk evaluation, and subsequently propose a new rule that addresses all risks posed by 1,4-dioxane.