Blogs

On April 3, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Federal Register notice providing notice of its issuance of an Existing Stocks Order and announcing the end dates for sales, distribution, and use of existing stocks on over-the-top (OTT) uses of dicamba subject to the Order. 89 Fed. Reg. 23010. This announcement follows the February 14, 2024, Existing Stocks Order for Dicamba Products Previously Registered for Over-the-Top Use on Dicamba-Tolerant Cotton and Soybean...

The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) announced on April 11, 2024, that a coalition of public health groups filed a petition under Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) seeking to stop immediately the manufacture and distribution of “hundreds of millions of plastic containers with dangerous levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that leach from these containers into household products and the environment.” The petition “demands that the...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service announced on April 9, 2024, that ARS researchers published a study revealing the ability of cotton gin waste to synthesize and generate silver nanoparticles in the presence of silver ions. ARS states that cotton gin waste, also known as cotton gin trash, “is a byproduct of the cotton ginning process and occurs when the cotton fibers are separated from the seed boll.” Using a simple heat...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on April 8, 2024, that it is directing government contractors to purchase cleaning products for federal buildings that are free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). This change is the result of a collaboration between EPA and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to implement President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan, which directs federal agencies to prioritize the purchase of sustainable products and services,...

Register now to join Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) and The Acta Group (Acta®) for “Harmonizing TSCA Consent Orders with OSHA HCS 2012,” a complimentary webinar covering case studies and practical applications of merging the requirements for consent order language on the Safety Data Sheet (SDS). Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) consent orders and Significant New Use Rules (SNUR) are issued under Section 5 for specific chemicals. These U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published on April 3, 2024, an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding lead for wheel-balancing weights (lead wheel weights). 89 Fed. Reg. 22972. EPA requests comments and information to assist in the potential development of regulations for the manufacture (including importing), processing (including recycling), and distribution in commerce of lead for lead wheel weights under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). To inform this...

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) will hold an informational webinar on April 16, 2024, on the recently released 2023 Billion-Ton Report (BT23), an assessment of renewable carbon resources potentially available in the United States. BETO notes that BT23 shows that the United States could sustainably triple its production of biomass to more than one billion tons per year and highlights the importance of diversifying...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is scheduled to publish a notice on April 9, 2024, announcing its denial of the Washington Department of Ecology’s (WDOE) petition under Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) seeking a rulemaking to eliminate the current allowances for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in consumer products. EPA states that it “shares the petitioner’s concerns regarding risks to human health and the environment posed by PCBs, and the Agency...

On March 28, 2024, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requested information about potential additions to or subtractions from the List of Bioengineered Foods (List) as it pertains to the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (Standard). 89 Fed. Reg. 21484. Under 7 C.F.R. Section 66.1, a bioengineered food is a food that — subject to certain factors, conditions, and limitations — contains detectable genetic material that has...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted a research update on April 2, 2024, entitled “Advancing Environmental Safety: Celebrating 20 years of Nanotechnology Research at EPA.” The item states that EPA collaborates across federal and state governments, industry, and the international community on nano-related research. In addition to its in-house nanotechnology research, EPA supports nano-related research through external grant programs such as the Science to Achieve Results...