The chemistry inside a blood tube
Potassium EDTA keeps blood from clotting on its way to the lab. Its story began in dye works looking for a way to soften hard water.
Chemical recordYour energy drink has a supply chain.
Caffeine goes into soft drinks and headache tablets. Follow its story from a poet’s coffee beans to the factories that make it today.
ACID covers 40,759 chemicals named on EPA’s chemical inventory or production survey, or on federal lists of drug ingredients, food substances and pesticides. For 38,630 of them, EPA’s production survey does not show how much is made here and how much is imported.
See what we don’t know ↓The sweetener made from wood
Follow xylitol from Finland’s wartime sugar shortage to sugar-free chewing gum and an Illinois factory.
Chemical recordThe mineral that glowed green
Zinc orthosilicate once came out of New Jersey mines. Its green glow went on to light radar screens and help chemists see their results.
Chemical recordThe national blind spot
For 95% of these chemicals, the supply is unknown.
One federal survey asks companies how much of a chemical they make in the US and how much they import: EPA’s Chemical Data Reporting, run every four years. A company reports a chemical when one site makes or imports at least 25,000 pounds of it in a year, or 2,500 pounds for chemicals under certain EPA rules or orders. For 2,129 chemicals, the survey publishes both numbers and at least one is above zero.
For the other 38,630, the record falls short in one of six ways:
- 6,811: at least one company claimed its production or import volume as confidential business information, so EPA withholds it.
- 18,276: the chemical is listed as active in US commerce, but no company reported it to EPA’s survey for 2019 or 2023. Sites may have made or imported less than the threshold amount, or none.
- 9,044: EPA exempts the chemical from the survey.
- 3,875: the chemical is not on EPA’s Toxic Substances Control Act inventory, the list the survey draws from. Most are drug ingredients, food substances or pesticides, which other laws cover.
- 234: EPA lists the chemical as inactive, meaning no company reported making, importing or processing it in the US from 2006 to 2016.
- 390: EPA lists the chemical but publishes zero or no volume for both production and imports.
Without both numbers, we cannot tell how exposed the country is if imports stop.
Look inside the chemical records94.8%
of tracked chemicals have unknown supply
Supply knownUnknown
Each square represents 1% of tracked chemicals. Rounded to whole squares.
What the records do reveal
Import dependence is only part of the picture. Missing and confidential records obscure the rest.
1,052
Import-dependent chemicals
Imports made up more than half of the volume companies reported to EPA in the chemical’s most recent report with volumes.
Explore chemical records1,002Zero reported US production
Companies reported imports and no US production in the chemical’s most recent EPA report with volumes. These are part of the 1,052.
Inspect the records6,426China is the primary source
Of 17,427 chemicals with trade data, China leads as the source country for these chemicals.
Explore import sourcesChemicals with no US production, and chemicals made mostly in the US, by EPA reporting year
Explore import sources by country.
6,196 production volumes are trade secrets.
Companies can keep chemical production volumes confidential. A public record can name the chemical without showing how much America makes.
40%
of company filings conceal the company’s role.
EPA filings name Eastman Chemical for 261 chemicals. For 11, the records identify Eastman as a manufacturer. For the other 250, its role is undisclosed.
See who makes what, and who doesn’t sayThe gaps reach the things you depend on.
Choose a sector to inspect its chemicals and the missing supply records.
Health
chemicals have unknown supply
96% unknown
Defense
chemicals have unknown supply
87% unknown
Agriculture
chemicals have unknown supply
88% unknown
Food
chemicals have unknown supply
85% unknown
Energy
chemicals have unknown supply
86% unknown
Water
chemicals have unknown supply
90% unknown
Electronics
chemicals have unknown supply
88% unknown
Transportation
chemicals have unknown supply
88% unknown
Construction
chemicals have unknown supply
88% unknown
Metals & Mining
chemicals have unknown supply
83% unknown
Plastics & Rubber
chemicals have unknown supply
88% unknown
Textiles
chemicals have unknown supply
81% unknown
Consumer Products
chemicals have unknown supply
86% unknown
Paints & Coatings
chemicals have unknown supply
85% unknown
Paper & Printing
chemicals have unknown supply
91% unknown
Core Chemicals
chemicals have unknown supply
85% unknown
Find the chemicals your work depends on.
40,759 indexed records. 40,743 entries; 16 duplicate records combined.
Loading chemical records…
Sources and method
ACID combines five public datasets. Each chemical page cites the records behind its numbers.
- EPA Chemical Data ReportingUS production and import volumes reported by companies, from each chemical’s most recent report with volumes, 2019 or 2023.
- EPA TSCA InventoryThe list of chemicals in US commerce.
- US Census foreign tradeImport values and source countries by customs code, 2024.
- openFDA drug shortagesCurrent and past drug shortages.
- PubChemChemical names, synonyms and structures.
Definitions
- Unknown supply
- EPA publishes no US production and import volumes for the chemical, withholds them, or reports both as zero.
- Reporting year
- EPA collects four years of data in each survey and publishes production and import volumes for the last year. ACID uses each chemical’s most recent report with volumes: 2023 or 2019.
- Import-dependent
- Imports made up more than half of the production and import volume companies reported to EPA in the chemical’s most recent report with volumes.
- Zero US production
- Companies reported imports and no US production in the chemical’s most recent EPA report with volumes.
- Trade-secret volumes
- The company claimed the volume as confidential business information, so EPA withholds it.