On August 3, 2023, the Joint Subcommittee on Environment, Innovation, and Public Health Sustainable Chemistry Strategy Team (Sustainable Chemistry ST) of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) published a report entitled Sustainable Chemistry Report: Framing the Federal Landscape. As reported in our January 19, 2021, memorandum, the fiscal year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included the text of the bipartisan Sustainable Chemistry Research and...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on August 16, 2023, the availability of the latest Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory. EPA notes that this update to the public TSCA Inventory is part of its biannual posting of non-confidential Inventory data. According to EPA, the Inventory contains 86,718 chemicals, of which 42,242 are active in U.S commerce. Other updates to the TSCA Inventory include updates to commercial activity data, unique...
August 25, 2023
EPA Will Hold Virtual Training on High Throughput Toxicokinetics Modeling in November 2023
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a two-day training on its high throughput toxicokinetic (HTTK) R package as part of its New Approach Methods (NAM) Training Program: According to EPA, toxicokinetics (TK) provides a bridge between toxicity and exposure assessment by predicting tissue concentrations due to exposure. EPA notes that traditional TK methods can be resource intensive and require chemical-specific data. EPA states that its freely available HTTK R...
August 25, 2023
EUON Posts Nanopinion on Nanocrystals Coating by Friction
On August 15, 2023, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “Nanocrystals Coating by Friction. A New Approach for Advanced Materials” by Dr. Bentejui Medina-Clavijo, Senior Fellow at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and Professor Andrey Chuvilin, head of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory at nanoGUNE. According to the authors, it has been found that friction “can dramatically change the surface properties of a...
August 25, 2023
EPA Will Hold Virtual Training on High Throughput Toxicokinetics Modeling in November 2023
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a two-day training on its high throughput toxicokinetic (HTTK) R package as part of its New Approach Methods (NAM) Training Program: According to EPA, toxicokinetics (TK) provides a bridge between toxicity and exposure assessment by predicting tissue concentrations due to exposure. EPA notes that traditional TK methods can be resource intensive and require chemical-specific data. EPA states that its freely available HTTK R...
August 24, 2023
EPA Releases Beta Version of ChemExpo, a Tool for Exploring Chemical Use Data Relevant to Exposure Assessment
On August 22, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published ChemExpo, a free, publicly available search and visualization tool for exploring chemical use data relevant to exposure assessment that has been curated from public documents. According to EPA, the interactive web application focuses on data collected by EPA about how chemicals are used in commerce and how they occur in consumer and industrial products. EPA notes that under the Toxic Substances Control Act...
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) published an updated report on August 4, 2023, on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Sustainable, Ecological, Consistent, Uniform, Responsible, Efficient (SECURE) rule. The revisions note that USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) five-year Strategic Plan for fiscal years (FY) 2023-2027 states that “one of its objectives is to ensure the safe development of agricultural biotechnology products using a...
August 22, 2023
Registration Opens for Nano4EARTH Roundtable Discussion on Batteries and Energy Storage on September 26, 2023
On September 26, 2023, Nano4EARTH will hold a roundtable discussion on batteries and energy storage. The roundtable will aim to identify fundamental knowledge gaps, needs, and opportunities to advance current electrification goals. According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), by convening stakeholders from different sectors, backgrounds, and expertise, the roundtable is intended to identify applicable lessons across the spectrum of technologies and to discuss...
August 22, 2023
EPA’s National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives for 2024-2027 Include Addressing PFAS and Chemical Accident Risk Reduction
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on August 17, 2023, its National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives (NECI) for 2024-2027, “including for the first time initiatives to mitigate climate change, address exposure to [per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)] contamination, and protect communities from cancer-causing coal ash.” To advance the Biden Administration’s commitment to protect disadvantaged communities, EPA states that it also will...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on August 17, 2023, the release of the first set of data collected under the fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5). According to EPA, in the latest action to deliver on EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap, UCMR 5 will provide new data that will improve its understanding of the frequency that 29 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and lithium are found in U.S. drinking water systems, and at what levels. EPA...