No More Citizen Petitions? Industry Lobbies Congress to Weaken Key Protections Against Toxic Chemicals

A group of federal lawmakers, backed by Big Chemical, is proposing to weaken what environmental advocates said is “the nation’s most important law protecting the public from toxic chemicals.”

As part of the proposed “sweeping overhaul” of the Toxic Substances Control Act, or TSCA, experts said legislators want to eliminate the public’s right to file citizen petitions — a right enshrined in TSCA since it was first passed in 1976.

Citizen petitions allow citizens to file civil actions to compel rulemaking on chemicals that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has failed to regulate — and to sue the EPA if it denies their petitions.

It was just such a petition that led to the September 2025 “landmark” decision by a federal judge, who ruled that current levels of fluoride added to community water systems pose an “unreasonable risk” to children’s health.

The judge ordered the agency to take action to regulate the chemical. The EPA is appealing the decision.

The win was a “landmark” because it represented the first time a citizen petition filed under the TSCA led to a lawsuit that won — or even made it to trial — in a federal court.

Robert Sussman, former EPA deputy administrator, told The Defender that the proposed changes to TSCA are “basically intended to prevent courts from doing exactly what the court did” in the fluoride case.