US environmental regulators demand secret chemical safety data from manufacturers

The US environmental regulators are forcing manufacturers of 16 specific chemicals to hand over all their unpublished health and safety studies. This means the agency will now have access to data that companies previously kept private, which will inform how they assess and manage risks.

For years, chemical manufacturers could keep negative health and safety data hidden from regulators, making it harder for the US environmental regulators to understand the true risks of certain substances. This rule change means the agency can now demand that information. It shifts the burden of proof, forcing companies to reveal what they know, rather than waiting for the government to discover it independently.