Blogs

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has posted two new reports in its Series on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials: Advanced Materials Assessment Schemes HARMLESS -- OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) Workshop Report (No. 107): The abstract states that to move forward in the assessment of currently available assessment schemes and evaluate their applicability as foresight tools to anticipate issues with the safety and sustainability of advanced...

The third annual Alternative Fuels & Chemicals Coalition (AFCC) Global Biobased Economy Conference will be held November 12-14, 2023, in Washington, D.C. AFCC states that attendees will learn about the necessary factors to successful commercialization and decarbonization in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), alternative fuels, renewable chemicals (includes bioplastics), biomaterials, food ingredients and additives, flavors and fragrances, alternative proteins, and regenerative agriculture....

NanoHarmony published on October 13, 2023, a white paper entitled From Science to Regulation: The NanoHarmony White Paper on Test Guideline Development. NanoHarmony states that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Test Guidelines (TG) Programme helps to develop harmonized agreed methods that can be used by OECD member countries to implement their regulatory regimes. According to NanoHarmony, for regulations to be effective and for manufacturers to be able to...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on October 20, 2023, the release of a final rule that is intended to improve reporting on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) by eliminating an exemption that allowed facilities to avoid reporting information on PFAS when those chemicals were used in small concentrations. The final rule will add PFAS subject to reporting under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on October 23, 2023, the winners of the 2023 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards for new and innovative green chemistry technologies. According to EPA, through the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the generation and use of hazardous substances, the winners “have developed solutions to significant environmental challenges such as climate change and spur innovation and economic development.” An independent...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) Nanoinformatics Conference will be held November 15, 2023, immediately before the 11th meeting of the U.S.-European Union (EU) Nano Environmental, Health, and Safety (NanoEHS) Communities of Research (COR) on November 16-17, 2023. According to the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), the Nanoinformatics Conference is being organized in support of the continued growth of the U.S. nanoinformatics research infrastructure and to foster...

On October 13, 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced the availability of a revised draft of the Guide for Submitting Permit Applications for Microorganisms Developed Using Genetic Engineering under 7 CFR Part 340 and a Response to Comments on the first draft of the Guide, published on March 23, 2023. APHIS’s Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) received comments on a range of issues and grouped the comments and its...

The European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced on October 10, 2023, that it published “A study on valid in silico modelling tools and read-across approaches, including creation of case studies on read-across for specific (types of) nanomaterials” that analyzes read-across and in silico approaches as alternative methods to conventional hazard and risk assessments for nanomaterials. According to EUON, the study identifies 190 alternative models and methodologies for...

On October 16, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of reporting instructions for entities required to report on their use of asbestos under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA’s July 25, 2023, final rule requires manufacturers (including importers) or processors of asbestos between 2019 and 2022 with annual sales above $500,000 (combined with their parent company) in any of those years to report exposure-related information, including...

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the release of an enforcement advisory letter on October 17, 2023, to manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of food packaging and cookware, alerting them to their obligations under AB 1200, a recently enacted statute that restricts the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food packaging and imposes labeling disclosure requirements for cookware. Bonta also issued a consumer alert with tips for reducing PFAS exposures. The...