Blogs

On April 26, 2018, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt was grilled by Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Environment at a hearing titled The Fiscal Year 2019 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Budget.  The budget was plainly not the primary topic as the House Committee Members covered a lot of ground.  Pruitt fielded many questions and comments from House Democrats on his alleged...

On April 24, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it has updated Chapters 3, 7, and 17 of the Pesticide Label Review Manual.  The three updated Label Review Manual chapters are: Chapter 3:  General Labeling Requirements; Chapter 7:  Precautionary Statements; and Chapter 17:  Net Contents/Net Weight. General Labeling Requirements (Chapter 3) changes include: Updating web-distributed labeling by adding an example of container label directions;...

On April 19, 2018, the European Parliament (EP) approved a regulation on organic production and labeling of organic products.  Under the regulation, the production of processed organic food will be based on several specific principles, including the exclusion of food containing or consisting of engineered nanomaterials.  The regulation defines engineered nanomaterial as defined in the 2011 regulation on the provision of food information to consumers as amended in 2015 by...

On April 23, 2018, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) circulated a presentation entitled “Top 10 Agricultural Pesticide Use Violations of 2017” that identifies the top ten agricultural most common pesticide use violations of 2017 in California.  The violations are listed from the least common (#10) to the most common (#1): 10.       Handler Training, regulated under Title 3 of the California Code of Regulations (C.C.R.) §...

On April 24, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it would be presenting a webinar to assist processors with reporting under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Inventory Notification (Active-Inactive) Rule, published in the Federal Register on August 11, 2017.  This webinar, scheduled for May 23, 2018, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (EDT) will “include an overview of reporting requirements for processors, a demonstration of the electronic...

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a Federal Register notice on April 24, 2018, announcing the availability of a draft research plan entitled Continuing to Protect the Nanotechnology Workforce:  NIOSH Nanotechnology Research Plan for 2018-2025 for public comment.  The draft Nanotechnology Research Plan presents the Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC) strategic plan for fiscal years (FY) 2018-2025, highlighting how the...

On April 24, 2018, the U.S. - Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) Stakeholder Group announced that a 2018 RCC Stakeholder Event will be held on; June 4-5, 2018, in Washington, D.C. to “bring together senior regulatory officials, industry, and other members of the public on both sides of the border to provide progress reports on existing RCC work plans and to discuss new opportunities for regulatory cooperation.” The announcement states that details regarding the 2018 RCC Stakeholder...

On April 16, 2018, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a report entitled “EU Insights — Consumer perceptions of emerging risks in the food chain.”  To understand better the views of European Union (EU) consumers on food-related emerging risks, EFSA surveyed 25 EU countries using three examples of emerging risks:  green smoothies, plastic rice, and nanoparticles.  According to the report, the study found that consumers tended to be more concerned about...

On April 19, 2018, the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed rule entitled “Strengthening Transparency and Validity in Regulatory Science.”  This new proposed rule, item 2080-AA14, has not been published in the regulatory agenda; the only information available concerning the content of this rule is its title.  On April 11, 2018, OIRA received an advanced...

On April 24, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is scheduled to publish a notice in the Federal Register that it will be adding a supplemental analysis, “Supplemental Analysis of Alternative Small Business Size Standard Definitions and their Effect on TSCA User Fee Collection,” to the rulemaking docket for the User Fees for the Administration of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) proposed rule published on February 26, 2018.  EPA will also...