United
States
Office
of
Public
Affairs
Office
ph.
(202)
564­
4355
Environmental
Protection
Washington,
D.
C.
20460
www.
epa.
gov/
newsroom
Agency
(1703A)

Press
Advisory
Following
are
some
Agency
developments
which
may
interest
you.
If
you
need
more
information
on
any
of
these
subjects,
call
the
appropriate
contact.

FOR
RELEASE:
WEDNESDAY,
SEPTEMBER
25,
2002
EPA
TOOL
IMPROVES
SCREENING
FOR
PERSISTENT,
BIOACCUMULATIVE
AND
TOXIC
CHEMICALS
Suzanne
Ackerman
202­
564­
7819/
ackerman.
suzanne@
epa.
gov
EPA
today
released
the
PBT
Profiler,
an
on­
line
chemical
screening
tool
developed
jointly
by
the
Agency,
the
American
Chemistry
Council,
the
Chlorine
Chemistry
Council,
the
Synthetic
Organic
Chemical
Manufacturers
Association
and
with
contributions
from
Environmental
Defense.
The
Profiler
screens
for
potential
persistent,
bioaccumulative
and
toxic
(PBTs)
chemicals
­­
toxic
substances
that
persist
for
extended
periods
in
the
environment
and
build
up
(bioaccumulate)
in
humans
and
animals.
This
new
tool
allows
companies
to
screen
for
PBT
chemicals
faster
than
traditional
methods,
to
select
safer
alternatives
to
PBTs
for
use
in
new
and
existing
products
and
to
incorporate
pollution
prevention
into
the
chemical
development
process.
More
than
120
chemical
companies
and
other
parties
participated
in
testing
the
PBT
Profiler,
including
DuPont,
PPG
Industries,
S.
C.
Johnson
and
Eastman
Kodak.
Since
1999,
EPA
has
required
certain
additional
PBT
chemicals
to
be
reported
under
Toxics
Release
Inventory
(TRI)
using
a
lower
reporting
threshold
than
the
other
TRI
chemicals.
For
more
information
on
the
PBT
Profiler,
see:
www.
epa.
gov/
oppt/
pbtprofiler.

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