Blogs

On February 2, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated through a direct final rule significant new use rules (SNURs) for 27 chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMNs).  The substances include polymer of terephthalic acid and ethyl benzene with multi-walled carbon nanotube (generic) (PMN Number P-13-573), which is subject to a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Section 5(e) consent order.  The consent order requires the following...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its new more “user-friendly” website for minimum risk pesticides. Under Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Section 25(b)(2) and EPA’s implementing regulations at 40 C.F.R. § 152.25(f), pesticides meeting certain criteria (e.g., containing only specified, listed active and inert ingredients, not bearing public health claims) are determined by EPA to pose little to no risk to human health or the...

On January 28, 2015, Environment Canada announced that, with Health Canada, it has initiated a review of significant new activity (SNAc) orders and notices currently in place under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).  According to Environment Canada, since publication of the first SNAc in 2001, policies and practices have evolved, particularly with respect to the nature and scope of SNAcs, as well as the wording used to identify “significant new activities.”  The SNAc...

An ad hoc committee of the National Research Council (NRC) released a report, Review of California's Risk-Assessment Process for Pesticides, following its scientific and technical evaluation of the California Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) risk assessment process for pesticides. The NRC committee review, which commenced in October 2013, examined documents provided by the California EPA’s Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) regarding the processes it uses for hazard...

The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) posted on January 13, 2015, a paper entitled “NGO comments on Transparency measures for nanomaterials on the market:  Working conclusions.”  EEB, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Friends of the Earth (FOE) Australia, and Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) state that they disagree with most of the EC’s working conclusions regarding the transparency measures for nanomaterials on the market.  The NGOs claim that the...

On January 20, 2015, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued its latest Biological Opinion (BiOp) in a series of BiOps evaluating potential effects of pesticide use on salmon in the Pacific Northwest. When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decides to permit continued registration of a pesticide (during reregistration or registration review), Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7(a)(2) requires EPA to determine, in consultation with the NMFS and/or the Fish and Wildlife...

On January 27, 2015, the European Union (EU) Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed agreed to a proposed list of 77 pesticide active substances to be classified as Candidates for Substitution (CFS). The draft list of CFS is available online.  A Question and Answer (Q&A) document regarding the CFS list is available online. Additional information regarding the proposed list is also available online. This list is an important and long-awaited development under...

By Richard E. Engler, Ph.D. In 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute® (ACS GCI) renewed their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), continuing the partnership centered on the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. The award cycle returned to its original schedule with the 2015 ceremony set to coincide with the Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference, as it had until 2013. This year the conference will be held on...

On January 5, 2015, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit challenging the November 6, 2014, decision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allow the continued use of tetrachlovinphos (TCVP) in flea control products used on pets. NRDC’s 2009 petition sought to cancel all pet uses of TCVP based on alleged potential health risks to children. Background In February 2014, NRDC filed a petition for a...

Along with the release of the revised human health risk assessment for chlorpyrifos, in late December 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a Response to the Petition for a Writ of Mandamus that the Pesticide Action Network North America and the Natural Resources Defense Council, among others, filed in September 2014 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. This action is the latest of several brought to try to achieve a ban of chlorpyrifos and a revocation...