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March 22, 202312:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDT REGISTER NOW Rooted in the circular economy concept and the “polluter pays” principle, extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws have a long tradition in Europe for many product categories, including packaging. In the United States, EPR is much newer and is viewed as a funding mechanism to support recycling programs by shifting the responsibility to pay for these programs from municipal, public sources to private, product producer...

Download transcript. This week, I had the pleasure of catching up with Dr. Catherine M. Croke, B&C’s and our consulting affiliate’s, The Acta Group, new Director of Product Stewardship and Regulatory Affairs. Catherine joined us recently from Evonik Corporation, where she was Senior Advocacy and Compliance Manager. Catherine’s diverse and truly extraordinary background working for industrial chemical companies in a variety of science, business, and advocacy roles have made...

On February 28, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) New Chemicals Program held the third and final webinar in its series 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. The webinar covered commonly missed information in Section 5 submissions and how EPA evaluates environmental release information for operations that occur at...

On February 27, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of and solicited public comment on two draft documents that are being submitted to the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) for peer review: “Draft Proposed Principles of Cumulative Risk Assessment under the Toxic Substances Control Act” (draft proposed principles) and “Draft Proposed Approach for Cumulative Risk Assessment of High-Priority Phthalates and a Manufacturer-Requested...

Washington D.C. law firm Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) has launched the PFAS News and Information web page. Continuing B&C’s tradition of providing reliable information and analysis of the most pressing chemical issues of the day, this web page provides constantly updated resources to help those in the chemicals and chemical products industries understand what they need to know about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) developments and what it means to their...

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on February 23, 2023, entitled “EPA Chemical Reviews: Workforce Planning Gaps Contributed to Missed Deadlines.” GAO evaluated the extent to which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) met selected Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) deadlines for reviewing existing and new chemicals since June 2016, and to which EPA engaged in workforce planning for implementing its chemical review responsibilities. GAO identified...

On February 14, 2023, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) announced a much anticipated proposed rule intended to provide additional guidance on the notification requirements and sales prohibitions for products and product components containing intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). MDEP will hold a public hearing on April 20, 2023. Comments are due May 19, 2023, by 5:00 p.m. (EDT). Background Maine enacted “An Act To...

On February 15, 2023, Bloomberg Law quoted Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), regarding claims by environmental groups that the European Union (EU) has failed to update rules on nanomaterials, leading to insufficient information being provided about the potential health and environmental risks posed by the substances.  An update of REACH is being prepared that will, among other things, write the mid-2022 definition of...

Download transcript. This week, I welcomed back to the studio Karin F. Baron, Director of Hazard Communication and International Registration Strategy at B&C and our consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. During this 100th All Things Chemical podcast, Karin and I discuss the very important recently released amendments to the Canadian Hazardous Products Regulations (HPR). The amendments are intended to align the HPR with the seventh revised edition (Rev 7) of the United Nations (UN)...

This article focuses on one of many abrupt, and in some views, unlawful, EPA policy shifts frustrating lawyers and confusing the public. The EPA moved in 2021 from a “conditions of use” approach to evaluating chemical risk to a “whole chemical” approach. This seemingly modest change is a key reason why lawyers advising chemical stakeholders are struggling and why there may be a lot of TSCA litigation in the EPA’s future....