Blogs

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on September 30, 2024, that it is updating the Safer Chemical Ingredients List (SCIL) “to enhance transparency in safer chemistry, help consumers and organizations find safer chemical alternatives, and increase innovation and growth of safer products.” According to EPA, with this update, there are 957 chemicals on the SCIL. The updates include: Adding 27 chemicals to the SCIL: EPA states that the new additions include colorants,...

On September 26, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the winners of the 2024 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards for new and innovative green chemistry technologies. According to EPA, the winners have developed chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the generation and use of hazardous substances, use less energy, and are more sustainable. An independent panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) announced on September 12, 2024, the availability of the following updated resources to help developers more efficiently prepare and submit APHIS BRS permit applications: Permit User Guide -- Implements stakeholder feedback to clarify information requirements and how BRS uses the information when reviewing permit applications, provides tips on efficiently...

After the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied a 2016 petition filed under Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requesting that EPA consider whether fluoride in drinking water presents an unreasonable risk of injury to human health, a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGO) promptly filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Food & Water Watch v. EPA (No. 3:17-cv-02162-EMC). After a bench trial in 2020, the court...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the 2024 Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winners on September 24, 2024. EPA recognized the 43 award winners for their achievements in the design, manufacture, promotion, selection, and use of cleaners, detergents, and other products with safer chemicals. EPA notes the following achievements among the winners: Improving Access to Products with Safer Ingredients: Many Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winners showed leadership in...

On September 25, 2024, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) posted a NIOSH Science Blog item entitled “Celebrating 20 Years of the Nanotechnology Research Center: Measuring the Small Things,” the final installment of the blog series commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC). According to the item, when NTRC was created in 2004, one of its biggest challenges was understanding exactly what to measure and how to measure it....

On September 22, 2024, the State of California Department of Justice announced that it filed a lawsuit in the San Francisco County Superior Court against ExxonMobil “for allegedly engaging in a decades-long campaign of deception that caused and exacerbated the global plastics pollution crisis.” California “seeks to compel ExxonMobil, which promotes and produces the largest amount of polymers -- essentially the building blocks used to make single-use plastic -- that become plastic waste in...

On September 20, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for a voluntary remand of the case brought by Cherokee Concerned Citizens or review of an Order for a New Chemical Substance under Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Cherokee Concerned Citizens v. EPA (No. 23-1096). EPA states that it wishes to withdraw the Order and reconsider the 18 premanufacture notices (PMN) covered by the...

On September 13, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began a public comment period on a proposed update to its Recommendations of Specifications, Standards, and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing (Recommendations) that help federal government purchasers and other buyers use private sector standards and ecolabels to buy products that are more sustainable and climate-friendly and contain safer chemical ingredients. 89 Fed. Reg. 74940. In its September 10, 2024, press release, EPA...

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing on September 26, 2024, on “Examining the Public Health Impacts of [Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)] Exposures.” The Committee will hear from the following witnesses: Laurel Schaider, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Silent Spring Institute; Sue Fenton, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Human Health and the Environment, Professor of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State...