SUPERSAFE Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3457 To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to estab- lish a consortium relating to exposures to toxic substances and identifying chemicals that are safe to use. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 18, 2023 Ms. LOFGREN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a consortium relating to exposures to toxic substances and identifying chemicals that are safe to use. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supercomputing for 4 Safer Chemicals Act’’ or the ‘‘SUPERSAFE Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. SUPERCOMPUTING FOR SAFER CHEMICALS 6 (SUPERSAFE) CONSORTIUM. 7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3457.IH H3457 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3457 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 1 Environmental Protection Agency (referred to in 2 this section as the ‘‘Administrator’’), in consultation 3 with the heads of relevant Federal agencies (includ- 4 ing the Secretary of Health and Human Services 5 and the Secretary of Energy), shall form a consor- 6 tium, to be known as the ‘‘Supercomputing for Safer 7 Chemicals (SUPERSAFE) Consortium’’ (referred to 8 in this section as the ‘‘Consortium’’). The Consor- 9 tium shall include the National Laboratories of the 10 Department of Energy, academic and other research 11 institutions, and other entities, as determined by the 12 Administrator, to carry out the activities described 13 in subsection (b). 14 (2) INCLUSION OF STATE AGENCIES.—The Ad- 15 ministrator shall allow the head of a relevant State 16 agency to join the Consortium on request of the 17 State agency. 18 (b) CONSORTIUM ACTIVITIES.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Consortium shall use 20 supercomputing, machine learning, and other similar 21 capabilities— 22 (A) to establish rapid approaches for large- 23 scale identification of toxic substances and the 24 development of safer alternatives to toxic sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3457.IH H3457 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3457 IH stances by developing and validating computa- 1 tional toxicology methods based on unique high- 2 performance computing, artificial intelligence, 3 machine learning, and precision measurements; 4 (B) to address the need to identify safe 5 chemicals for use in consumer and industrial 6 products and in their manufacture to support 7 the move away from toxic substances and to- 8 ward safe-by-design alternatives; and 9 (C) to make recommendations on how the 10 information produced can be applied in risk as- 11 sessments and other characterizations for use 12 by the Environmental Protection Agency and 13 other agencies in regulatory decisions, and by 14 industry in identifying toxic and safer chemi- 15 cals. 16 (2) MODELS.—In carrying out paragraph (1), 17 the Consortium— 18 (A) shall use supercomputers and other 19 virtual tools to develop, validate, and run mod- 20 els to predict adverse health effects caused by 21 toxic substances and to identify safe chemicals 22 for use in products and manufacturing; and 23 (B) may utilize, as needed, appropriate bi- 24 ological test systems to test and evaluate ap- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3457.IH H3457 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3457 IH proaches and improve their predictability and 1 reliability in industrial and regulatory applica- 2 tions. 3 (c) PUBLIC RESULTS.—The Consortium shall make 4 model predictions, along with supporting documentation, 5 available to the public in an accessible format. 6 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 7 authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator to 8 carry out this section— 9 (1) for fiscal year 2023, $20,000,000; 10 (2) for fiscal year 2024, $30,000,000; and 11 (3) for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2027, 12 $35,000,000. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:35 Jun 08, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3457.IH H3457 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS