The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that it is developing a project intended to support public dialog concerning the development and use of synthetic biology (Synbio) algae. EPA has oversight responsibility for the production and use of intergeneric microorganisms, including cyanobacteria, eukaryotic microalgae (genetically modified (GM) algae), and their products by application of genetic engineering approaches, including those called Synbio. EPA's recently...
On August 4, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the availability of a final guidance document entitled “Guidance for Industry: Use of Nanomaterials in Food for Animals.” The Guidance is intended to assist industry and other stakeholders in identifying potential issues related to safety or regulatory status of food for animals containing nanomaterials or otherwise involving the application of nanotechnology. FDA states that the Guidance is...
On June 24, 2015, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the Center for Environmental Health, Beyond Pesticides, and Physicians for Social Responsibility (Plaintiffs) sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Administrator Gina McCarthy regarding a 2014 decision by EPA not to proceed with a rulemaking to require disclosure of hazardous inert ingredients on pesticide product labels under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide...
Richard E. Engler, Ph.D, Senior Chemist with B&C and advisor to BRAG, delivered an instructive and practical session for biobased product stakeholders at the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference on July 16, 2015, covering what TSCA regulates, how the TSCA Inventory works, key nomenclature issues for chemicals made from renewable, biomass, or waste feedstocks, and presenting helpful checklists and case studies to help stakeholders understand what products and...
Competing proposals are working their way through the House and Senate to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the nation's primary law for managing chemicals in commerce, including biobased and renewable chemicals. In an article published in the July 23, 2015, Bloomberg BNA Daily Environment Report, former senior U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials Charles Auer and James V. Aidala, and attorney Lynn L. Bergeson, Of Counsel to the Biobased and Renewable Products...
July 31, 2015
Senate Passes Bill Extending Energy Tax Credits
On July 21, 2015, the Senate Finance Committee voted to pass a $96 billion package of tax extenders. The tax credits in the package include Individual Tax Extenders, Business Tax Extenders, and $16.4 billion in Energy Tax Extenders. The wind production tax credit, a $1.01 per-gallon production credit for second generation biofuels, energy efficiency credits, and a renewable electricity production credit that includes biomass and municipal solid waste, were all included in the tax credit...
July 30, 2015
NGOs Challenge Nanosilva’s Conditional Registration
On July 27, 2015, two petitions for review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) second conditional registration of a nanosilver pesticide product were filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a petition (Case Number 15-72308), as well as the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) (Case Number 15-72312). Both suits ask the court to set aside EPA’s final order...
On July 24, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Federal Register notice extending the public comment period regarding its proposed Antimicrobial Pesticides Use Site Index (USI) from July 31, 2015 to August 31, 2015. The initial Federal Register notice announcing the availability of EPA’s guidance on the USI was issued on July 1, 2015. By way of background, in 2014, EPA issued a final rule on Data Requirements for Antimicrobial...
On July 16, 2015, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced the following appeals in which the keywords include nanoforms: J.M. Huber Finland Oy, Case A-011-2015; RHODIA OPERATIONS SAS, Case A-010-2015; IQESIL SA, Case A-009-2015; and Evonik Degussa GmbH, Case A-008-2015. The cases all concern silicic acid, aluminum sodium salt. The contested decisions were adopted December 17, 2014, following a compliance check under the dossier evaluation procedure of the submitted registration. In each...
July 27, 2015
Canada Begins Mandatory Survey with Respect to Certain Nanomaterials in Canadian Commerce
The July 25, 2015, Canada Gazette includes a notice announcing that the Minister of the Environment requires, for the purpose of assessing whether the substances described in the notice are toxic or are capable of becoming toxic, or for the purpose of assessing whether to control, or the manner in which to control the listed substances, any person described in the notice who possesses or who may reasonably be expected to have access to the information required to provide that...