Blogs

On November 3, 2022, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) announced it reached a settlement agreement with Amazon.com Services, LLC (Amazon) regarding the illegal sale of pesticides in California. According to DPR, its review of Amazon uncovered multiple violations. Among them, it sold unregistered pesticides in California, failed to report and pay required mill assessment fees associated with the sale of registered pesticides in California, and failed to hold a...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on November 4, 2022, that it will hold the first of a two-part webinar series on November 17, 2022, on EPA’s new standardized process to assess risk and apply mitigation measures, as appropriate, for mixed metal oxides (MMO), including new and modified cathode active materials (CAM). As reported in our October 11, 2022, memorandum, in October 2022, EPA announced an innovative effort intended to help make its review of new MMOs,...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on November 2, 2022, that it launched a new process to expand the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) program’s Recommendations of Specifications, Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing (Recommendations). EPA is inviting managers of standards development organizations, ecolabel programs, and other similar organizations to apply for potential assessment and inclusion in...

On November 1, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced 26 Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winners, recognizing their achievements in the design, manufacture, selection, and use of products with safer chemicals. The awardees represent a wide variety of organizations, including small- and medium-sized businesses, women-owned companies, state and local governments, non-governmental organizations, and trade associations. EPA encouraged applicants for the...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has provided a report to Congress on its capacity to implement certain provisions of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg Act). The report provides point-in-time estimates of EPA’s current estimated capacity and resources needed to implement the 2016 Lautenberg Act amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA states that it recognizes its responsibility to identify and implement...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) announced on October 19, 2022, the release of a report finding that life cycle assessments (LCA) of transportation fuels are valuable tools for measuring environmental impacts, but uncertainties remain in the current models and further research should be conducted to strengthen their reliability. The report recommends ways to improve models, increase reporting and transparency,...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on October 28, 2022, that it awarded $748,180 in research grant funding to three institutions for research to improve understanding of how people are exposed to per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in several communities throughout the country. EPA states that there is evidence that continued exposure above specific levels to certain PFAS may lead to adverse health effects. According to EPA, more data are needed to measure...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   On October 28, 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBCS) and Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announced a request for information (RFI) and notice of public listening sessions on how to implement newly allocated funding opportunities under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). 87 Fed. Reg. 65188. It is anticipated that these funds will support new projects related to rural electric system resiliency,...

On October 26, 2022, the Biden Administration announced that it is expanding the Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Cybersecurity Initiative to the chemical sector. The White House’s fact sheet states that the majority of chemical companies are privately owned, so a collaborative approach is needed between the private sector and government. According to the fact sheet, “[t]he nation’s leading chemical companies and the government’s lead agency for the chemical sector — the...

On October 31, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed significant new use rules (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for a number of chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN) and are also subject to Orders issued by EPA pursuant to TSCA. 87 Fed. Reg. 65548. The proposed SNURs include four chemical substances identified as: According to EPA, the PMNs state that the use of the substances will be...

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (CDTSC) invites stakeholders to two external engagement sessions, on November 1 and November 3, 2022, to share their perspectives on an actionable definition of sustainable chemistry. CDTSC states that stakeholders’ participation and expertise can help refine a draft, consensus definition and set of criteria for sustainable chemistry. According to CDTSC, the draft definition and criteria were developed over the past six months by a...

NanoHarmony and NANOMET have published a status report summarizing the current status of projects aiming to develop or adapt Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Test Guidelines (TG) and Guidance Documents (GD) for nanomaterials, as well as the outlook for each project as of July 2022. The status report is intended to be a living document that will be updated regularly. A large part of the status report comprises activities in European Union (EU) projects like...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (CDTSC) invites stakeholders to two external engagement sessions, on November 1 and November 3, 2022, to share their perspectives on an actionable definition of sustainable chemistry. CDTSC states that stakeholders’ participation and expertise can help refine a draft, consensus definition and set of criteria for sustainable chemistry. According to CDTSC, the draft definition and criteria...

This week’s All Things Chemical® podcast will be of interest to readers of the B&C® Biobased and Sustainable Chemicals Blog. This episode features a conversation between Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) and Dr. Claire Skentelbery, Director General, EuropaBio — The European Association for Bioindustries. Many know Claire from her prior role as Director General of the Nanotechnology Industries Association, where she...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a webinar on November 1, 2022, on a new research funding opportunity, “Developing and Demonstrating Nanosensor Technology to Detect, Monitor, and Degrade Pollutants.” EPA states that environmental pollutants such as pesticides, insecticides, dyes, phenols, endocrine disrupters, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), heavy metals, and nitrogen compounds can have adverse effects on human health...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a webinar on October 27, 2022, in its Computational Toxicology and Exposure Communities of Practice (CompTox Communities of Practice) series on “Analysis of High-Throughput Profiling Assays in Chemical Safety Screening.” The abstract for the webinar states that recent technological advancements have led to the development of new high-throughput profiling methods, such as transcriptomics, that can be used to screen rapidly chemicals...

On October 18, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) New Chemicals Program held a webinar on EPA’s process for assessing the potential risks of new chemicals under Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the types of data EPA considers in this assessment. Specifically, the webinar covered examples of data (quantitative and qualitative) that are not likely to be accepted for engineering assessment, considerations EPA makes when evaluating data, and...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on October 21, 2022, that it recently reviewed a corn plant and a potato plant that were modified using genetic engineering to determine whether they present an increased pest risk as compared to unmodified plants. APHIS has posted its Regulatory Status Review (RSR) responses on its website, as required under 7 C.F.R....

On October 19, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it activated its emerging viral pathogen (EVP) guidance in support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) response to the Ebola virus cases in western Uganda. With EPA’s EVP guidance, additional disinfectants, for which EVP claims have been approved, can be used against the Ebola virus. According to EPA’s press release, EPA developed its EVP...

October 26, 202212:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. (EDT) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that 48 million people in the United States (1 in 6) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die each year from foodborne diseases. In 2011, President Obama signed into law the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in part to address this significant public health issue. FSMA is a comprehensive law intended to shift the focus of foodborne illness...