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Union Calendar No. 433 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2567 

[Report No. 109–730, Part I] 

To amend the Federal Hazardous Substances Act to require engine coolant 

and antifreeze to contain a bittering agent so as to render it unpalatable. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 24, 2005 

Mr. ACKERMAN (for himself, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mrs. WILSON of New Mexico, Mr. UPTON, Mrs. BONO, and Mr. TANNER) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

DECEMBER 8, 2006 

Additional sponsors: Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. CASE, Mr. NADLER, Mr. 

DICKS, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. BILIRAKIS, 

Mr. OLVER, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. KOLBE, 

Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. SESSIONS, Ms. HARMAN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. WHITFIELD, 

Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mrs. 

MCCARTHY, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. WOLF, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, 

Mr. EVANS, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, 

Mr. SIMMONS, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. 

LAHOOD, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. PASCRELL, 

Mr. EVERETT, Mr. GORDON, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. BROWN of 

South Carolina, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mrs. DAVIS of 

California, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. 

VAN HOLLEN, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. FOLEY, Mrs. NORTHUP, Mr. WELDON

of Pennsylvania, Mr. WU, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. 

TOWNS, Mr. ROSS, Mr. KIRK, Mr. WYNN, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. ENGEL, 

Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. REICHERT, Mr. CAMPBELL of California, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. EHLERS, Mrs. LOWEY, Mrs. SCHMIDT, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. 

KLINE, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. WELLER, and Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts 

Deleted sponsors: Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (added June 13, 2005; 

deleted July 27, 2005), Mr. FARR (added June 15, 2005; deleted June 

23, 2005), Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas (added June 28, 2005; deleted 

September 13, 2005), Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (added June 28, 2005; deleted 


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July 12, 2005), and Ms. BALDWIN (added January 31, 2006; deleted 

May 17, 2006) 

DECEMBER 8, 2006 

Reported with an amendment and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

for a period ending not later than December 8, 2006, for consideration 

of such provisions of the bill and amendment as fall within the jurisdiction of that committee pursuant to clause 1(l), rule X. Referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for a period ending not 

later than December 8, 2006, for consideration of such provisions of the 

bill and amendment as fall within the jurisdiction of that committee pursuant to clause 1(r), rule X 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

DECEMBER 8, 2006 

Committees on the Judiciary and Transportation and Infrastructure discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State 

of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 24, 2005] 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Hazardous Substances Act to require 

engine coolant and antifreeze to contain a bittering agent 

so as to render it unpalatable. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Antifreeze Bittering Act 

5 of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ADDITION OF BITTERING AGENT IN ANTIFREEZE 

7 REQUIRED. 

8 The Federal Hazardous Substances Act (15 U.S.C. 

9 1261 et seq.) is amended by adding after section 24 (15 

10 U.S.C. 1278) the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 25. ADDITION OF BITTERING AGENT IN ANTIFREEZE 

2 REQUIRED. 

3 ‘‘(a) BITTERING AGENT.— 

4 ‘‘(1) ENVIRONMENTAL EVALUATION REQUIRED.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days 

6 after the date of enactment of this section, the 

7 Consumer Product Safety Commission shall com8 mence an evaluation, in cooperation with the 

9 Environmental Protection Agency and appro10 priate State health and environmental officials 

11 in those States that, as of the date of enactment 

12 of this section, have enacted laws requiring a 

13 bittering agent in engine coolant or antifreeze, to 

14 determine whether there is evidence that the use 

15 of the bittering agent denatonium benzoate in en16 gine coolant or antifreeze has an unreasonable 

17 adverse effect on the environment. 

18 ‘‘(B) CERTAIN TESTS PROHIBITED.—The 

19 evaluation required under subparagraph (A) 

20 may not include any new animal or human test21 ing. 

22 ‘‘(C) REQUIRED DATE OF COMPLETION.— 

23 The Commission shall complete the evaluation 

24 within 180 days after the date of enactment of 

25 this section and publish its findings in the Fed26 eral Register. 


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1 ‘‘(2) USE OF BITTERING AGENT.— 

2 ‘‘(A) GENERAL REQUIREMENT.—Unless the 

3 Commission, in its evaluation under paragraph 

4 (1), finds there is evidence of an unreasonable 

5 adverse effect on the environment, any engine 

6 coolant or antifreeze that is manufactured on or 

7 after the date that is 180 days after the date of 

8 publication of the Commission’s finding in the 

9 Federal Register pursuant to paragraph (1)(C), 

10 and that contains more than 10 percent ethylene 

11 glycol, shall include not less than 30 parts per 

12 million, and not more than 50 parts per million, 

13 denatonium benzoate as a bittering agent in 

14 order to render the coolant or antifreeze 

15 unpalatable. 

16 ‘‘(B) ALTERNATIVE AGENT.—If the inclu17 sion of denatonium benzoate in engine coolant or 

18 antifreeze is required under subparagraph (A) 

19 and the Commission finds that— 

20 ‘‘(i) an alternative bittering agent is as 

21 effective as denatonium benzoate in ren22 dering coolant or antifreeze unpalatable in 

23 terms of both its bittering capacity and its 

24 compatibility with motor vehicle engine 

25 coolant and antifreeze, and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) in cooperation with the Environ2 mental Protection Agency, there is no evi3 dence that the use of the alternative 

4 bittering agent has an unreasonable adverse 

5 effect on the environment, 

6 the Commission may initiate a rulemaking to 

7 permit the use of the alternative bittering agent 

8 in lieu of denatonium benzoate. 

9 ‘‘(3) UNREASONABLE ADVERSE EFFECT ON THE

10 ENVIRONMENT DEFINED.—As used in this subsection, 

11 the term ‘unreasonable adverse effect on the environ12 ment’ means an unreasonable risk to human health or 

13 the environment, taking into account the economic, 

14 social, and environmental costs and benefits. 

15 ‘‘(4) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—Any engine coolant 

16 or antifreeze that is required to contain a bittering 

17 agent under paragraph (2) that is not in compliance 

18 with that paragraph shall be considered to be a 

19 banned hazardous substance within the meaning of 

20 section 2(q) (15 U.S.C. 1261(q)), and shall be subject 

21 to the penalties provided for in section 5 (15 U.S.C. 

22 1264). 

23 ‘‘(b) RECORD KEEPING.— 

24 ‘‘(1) NAME AND ACTIVE INGREDIENT.—A manu25 facturer of an engine coolant or antifreeze that is reVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:42 Dec 14, 2006 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2567.RH H2567

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1 quired to contain a bittering agent under subsection 

2 (a) shall maintain a record of the trade name, sci3 entific name, and any active ingredients of a 

4 bittering agent used in compliance with such sub5 section. 

6 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY TO THE PUBLIC.—Any record 

7 maintained under paragraph (1) shall be made avail8 able to the public on receipt by the manufacturer of 

9 a request from any person. 

10 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a 

12 manufacturer, processor, distributor, recycler, or seller 

13 of an engine coolant or antifreeze that is required to 

14 contain a bittering agent under subsection (a) shall 

15 not be liable to a person for any personal injury, 

16 death, property damage, damage to the environment 

17 (including natural resources), or economic loss that 

18 results from the inclusion in the engine coolant or 

19 antifreeze of the bittering agent, provided that the 

20 bittering agent is present in concentrations mandated 

21 by subsection (a)(2)(A) or permitted pursuant to a 

22 rulemaking under subsection (a)(2)(B). 

23 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

24 apply in any case in which a cause of liability re25 ferred to in that paragraph is unrelated to the incluVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:42 Dec 14, 2006 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2567.RH H2567

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1 sion in an engine coolant or antifreeze of the bittering 

2 agent as required by subsection (a). Nothing in this 

3 subsection shall be construed to exempt any manufac4 turer or distributor of denatonium benzoate, or an al5 ternative bittering agent the use of which is required 

6 or permitted under subsection (a)(2), from any liabil7 ity related to denatonium benzoate or the alternative 

8 bittering agent. 

9 ‘‘(d) PREEMPTION.—No State or political subdivision 

10 of a State shall establish or continue to enforce with respect 

11 to retail containers containing less than 55 gallons of en12 gine coolant or antifreeze any prohibition, limitation, 

13 standard or other requirement relating to the inclusion of 

14 a bittering agent in engine coolant or antifreeze that is dif15 ferent from, or in addition to, the requirements of this sec16 tion. 

17 ‘‘(e) EXEMPTION.—This section shall not be construed 

18 to apply to— 

19 ‘‘(1) the sale of a motor vehicle that contains en20 gine coolant or antifreeze; or 

21 ‘‘(2) a wholesale container of engine coolant or 

22 antifreeze that contains 55 gallons or more of engine 

23 coolant or antifreeze.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 433 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 2567 

[Report No. 109

–730, Part I] 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Hazardous Substances Act 

unpalatable. tain a bittering agent so as to render it to require engine coolant and antifreeze to conDECEMBER 8, 2006 

Committees on the Judiciary and Transportation and Indered to be printed of the Whole House on the State of the Union and or- frastructure discharged; committed to the Committee 


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