True to her word, yesterday U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced action plans on phthalates, long-chain perfluorinated chemicals (PFC), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) in products, and short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCP). This EPA initiative announces actions that are almost breathtaking in scope, and its development and implementation of the action plan items will set a number of new precedents — and possibly shape future...
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed on Sept. 30, 2009, to align the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) with provisions of the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). The HCS requires chemical manufacturers and importers to evaluate chemical hazards and provide information to subsequent users. The standard now requires employers to establish a hazard communication program for employees who are exposed to chemicals...
December 23, 2009
Lynn L. Bergeson, “Prepare to Report Climate Risks,” Chemical Processing, December 2009.
Publicly traded companies are required, under Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations, to disclose known and contingent material liabilities to ensure investors have reliable information on which to base their investment decisions. Increasingly, investor groups, nongovernment organizations (NGO), and others demand companies assess and disclose their financial risks from climate change. Following are recent developments advising that companies carefully consider how best to address...
December 18, 2009
Lynn L. Bergeson, “EPA Targets Electric Utilities,” Chemical Processing, November 2009.
Approximately 5.4 million cubic yards, or 1.1 billion gallons, of coal ash from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plant near Knoxville, Tenn., in December 2008 flooded some 300 acres of land, damaging property, polluting waterways, and killing fish. TVA will likely spend more than $500 million and perhaps as much as $1 billion dollars on the cleanup, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The TVA debacle was EPA’s wake-up call for potential hazards presented...
December 18, 2009
Lynn L. Bergeson, “The Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program: Where Are We?,” Environmental Quarterly Management, Autumn 2009.
On April 15, 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final list of chemicals in the first group of substances that will be screened under the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP). Development of this list caps a long, thoughtful, and arduous administrative process that spans over a decade. This “Washington Watch” column briefly reviews the development of the program, with emphasis on key elements of the current EDSP. The discussion also highlights the...
Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals (Fourth Report), which provides an ongoing assessment of the exposure of the U.S. population to environmental chemicals using biomonitoring. The Fourth Report presents data for the U.S. population for 212 environmental chemicals over the period 2003-2004, updating CDC’s 2005 Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental...
December 9, 2009
EPA Announces Development of Voluntary Pilot Programs for Antimicrobial Pesticide Products
Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) announced the development of two voluntary pilot programs for antimicrobial pesticide products. Working collaboratively with the Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC), OPP explored the different types of label statements and logos for antimicrobial pesticide product labels. OPP developed the Factual Label Statement Pilot Program and the OPP-Design for the Environment (DfE) Logo Pilot...
December 8, 2009
EPA Announces Revised Risk Assessment Methods for Workers, Children of Workers in Agricultural Fields, and Pesticides with No Food Uses
Earlier today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of a policy paper entitled Revised Risk Assessment Methods for Workers, Children of Workers in Agricultural Fields, and Pesticides with No Food Uses, which describes how EPA plans to use revised methods in conducting risk assessments for pesticide uses and exposures not governed by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). According to EPA, implementing this policy will increase...
December 7, 2009
ECHA Member State Committee Agrees on New SVHCs to Be Added to the Candidate List and First REACH Testing Decision
During the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) Member State Committee’s December 2-4, 2009, meeting, the Committee unanimously agreed that 15 new substances of very high concern (SVHC) would be added to the Candidate List. The Committee also unanimously agreed on a testing proposal from ECHA that was submitted under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation. More information on these actions is provided below. 15 SVHCs to Be Added to...
December 3, 2009
Lynn L. Bergeson, “FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel Considers Nanosilver,” Environmental Law Reporter, December 2009.
On November 3-5, 2009, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) met “to consider and review a set of scientific issues related to the assessment of hazard and exposure associated with nanosilver and other nanometal pesticide products.” The decision to convene an SAP was nominally motivated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) need to consider four applications pending at the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) seeking...