In addition, 85 percent of new chemicals reported under the TSCA lack data on chemical health effects.

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Meanwhile, the same partisan politics that have deadlocked several other issues could hold up TSCA reform, despite apparent bipartisan support.

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If moderate Republicans in Congress follow the reform-minded companies and the American public, then ExxonMobil will lose and TSCA reform will win.

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More specifically, the report highlights the need to make breast cancer research more interdisciplinary, to conduct more research into chemical and physical environmental factors, and to improve the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

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ExxonMobil is now also pushing against proposed reforms to TSCA contained in the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, a move that, perhaps surprisingly, pits it against several other large chemical manufacturers such as Dow Chemical and BASF Corporation.

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While there is bi-partisan support for an update of TSCA, as well as support from both public health advocates and the chemical industry, the Safe Chemicals Act may still languish in the Senate, as the details of modernizing TSCA become politicized.

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In much the same way that dealing with a patchwork of state regulations often has U.S. companies shifting practices long before the federal government requires them to, complying with assorted international chemical regulations, not to mention supplier codes of conduct from large companies, may have U.S. companies eliminating the most toxic chemicals whether TSCA is reformed or not.

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