Blogs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) “advis[ed] the public” on December 1, 2023, of its determination that DP23211 maize (corn) that has been developed using genetic engineering for insect resistance to western corn rootworm and contains the gene that codes for the phosphinothricin acetyltransferase protein responsible for tolerance to glufosinate-ammonium herbicides, as well as the gene that encodes for the phosphomannose isomerase...

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced on November 27, 2023, that a machine learning tool developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with support from BETO, makes it easier for material scientists to “mak[e] polymers more sustainable and higher performing -- especially with the reliance on petrochemicals for making plastics.” According to BETO, using artificial intelligence (AI), PolyID: Polymer Inverse Design™ “can...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) published a final rule on November 29, 2023, updating the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard’s (the Standard) List of Bioengineered (BE) Foods (the List) by adding “sugarcane (Bt insect-resistant varieties)” and amending “squash (summer)” to “squash (summer, coat protein-mediated virus-resistant varieties).” 88 Fed. Reg. 83305. AMS states that in updating the List, “this final rule...

The Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA) will hold its 2023 Symposium on December 5, 2023. Open to the public, the agenda for the Symposium includes: Welcome and Introduction: Sean Kelly, Director General (Interim), NIA; The current state of the global nano industry: The NIA now and in the future: Landon Mertz, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Cerion Nanomaterials and Chair of the NIA Board; Creating the right regulatory environment for nanomaterial innovation in the European Union (EU) and...

Under a November 20, 2023, final order of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Appeals Board (EAB), Ultium Cells LLC (Ultium) and General Motors Company (GM) have entered into a consent agreement with EPA concerning alleged violations of Section 5(a)(1) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). According to the consent agreement, the respondents voluntarily disclosed to EPA that three chemical substances were manufactured (imported) “a number of times between...

On November 20, 2023, the European Commission (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) announced that the EC requested that it carry out a safety assessment on hydroxyapatite (nano) in view of new information provided. As reported in our March 24, 2023, blog item, according to SCCS’s March 2023 final opinion on hydroxyapatite (nano), based on the data provided, SCCS considers hydroxyapatite (nano) safe when used at concentrations up to ten percent in toothpaste, and up to 0.465...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued on November 15, 2023, its report on EPA’s fiscal year (FY) 2024 top management challenges. OIG states that the report “summarizes what the inspector general considers to be ‘the most serious management and performance challenges facing the agency’” for FY 2024 and briefly assesses EPA’s progress in addressing those challenges. According to OIG, the management challenges include “Safeguarding...

On November 14, 2023, the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA) Coalition hosted a webinar for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide an overview of the process improvement to release Data Evaluation Records (DER) to the registrant with the final registration decision, as mandated under the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2022 (PRIA 5). PRIA 5 requires EPA to release to the applicant at the decision review time the complete DERs for studies submitted by the...

Elissa Reaves, Ph.D., who is currently Director of the Pesticide Re-Evaluation Division in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), will become the new Director of the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), replacing Denise Keehner. Keehner left her position as Assistant Secretary of the Maryland Department of the Environment to return to EPA in April 2022 as OPPT Director. Keehner previously worked in a variety of EPA offices, including...

NanoHarmony announced on November 10, 2023, the release of the NanoHarmony OECD TG/GD Process Mentor, an interactive web-based tool to guide stakeholders through the development process of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Test Guidelines (TG) and Guidance Documents (GD). NanoHarmony states that it developed the NanoHarmony OECD TG/GD Process Mentor to highlight the involvement of key institutions in the OECD Test Guidelines Programme, and their incentives to take part...