Blogs

By Lynn L. Bergeson In a recent statement prepared by U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Susan Mayne, Ph.D., Director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, and by Dennis Keefe, Ph.D, Director of FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety, FDA highlights its commitment to assisting plant biotechnology developers to foster innovation and ensure that consumers can confidently trust FDA’s high safety standards.  Plant biotechnology consists of methods...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On March 25, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted Draft Guidance for Plant Regulator Label Claim, Including Plant Biostimulants in Docket # EPA-HQ-OPP-2018-0258.  EPA issued the notice of availability in the Federal Register on March 27, 2019.  84 Fed. Reg. 11538.  This is an important document addressing tricky jurisdictional issues that have plagued EPA for years.  Comments on the draft guidance are due by May 28, 2019.  For a...

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published standard ISO/TR 19733:2019, “Nanotechnologies — Matrix of properties and measurement techniques for graphene and related two-dimensional (2D) materials.”  ISO states that since graphene was discovered in 2004, it has become one of the most attractive materials in application research and device industry due to its supreme material properties such as mechanical strength, stiffness and elasticity, high electrical and...

On March 25, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted Draft Guidance for Plant Regulator Label Claims, Including Plant Biostimulants in Docket # EPA-HQ-OPP-2018-0258.  EPA issued the notice of availability in the Federal Register on March 27, 2019.  84 Fed. Reg. 11538.  Comments on the draft guidance are due by May 28, 2019.  EPA states that the draft guidance is intended to “provide guidance on identifying product label...

On March 21, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it was updating its Residual Time to 25% Bee Mortality (RT25) Data Table with information it has collected since the table was first published in 2014.  EPA states that the “RT25 data help farmers and beekeepers know about how long a specific pesticide may remain toxic to bees and other insect pollinators following foliar application to crops,” and the new data “reflect the results of studies...

Registration is available for the National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) April 9, 2019, webinar on “Characterization and Quantification of Engineered Nanomaterials:  Drivers of NanoEHS Research.”  The speaker will be Dr. Robert MacCuspie, Natural Immunogenics Corp., and Dr. Debra Kaiser, National Institute of Standards and Technology, will moderate.  The webinar will examine the significant progress in characterization and measurement of engineered...

On March 22, 2019, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) issued a memorandum stating that it was releasing 24 studies in the Colour Index (C.I.) Pigment Violet (PV) 29 docket (Docket No. EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0604) that were reviewed by EPA to develop its Draft Risk Evaluation for C.I. PV 29.  EPA states that these studies are being made available to the public prior to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) expert panel peer...

The March 18, 2019, episode of the National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) podcast series, “Stories from the NNI,” is a conservation with Dr. Chuck Geraci, Associate Director for Emerging Technologies at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).  Dr. Lisa Friedersdorf, Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), and Dr. Geraci discuss how NIOSH works with industry to ensure workplace safety, the progress that has been made in the...

By Lynn L. Bergeson In February 2019, the University of Utah published the article Algal lipid extraction using confined impinging jet mixers.  The article outlines the University of Utah engineers’ latest discovery of a new method for rapid lipid harvesting which is essential to energy parity for microbial derived biofuels.  This newly developed technique is not only faster but also more efficient, and uses confined impinging jet mixers (CIJM) to improve lipid extraction from...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On March 19, 2019, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) announced the delay of the spring release for BRS’ updated permitting system in APHIS eFile.  The release is now expected to occur in mid-summer 2019, with periodic updates provided by APHIS BRS as the anticipated release approaches.  In its announcement, APHIS BRS highlighted its commitment to bringing a permitting system that takes...