With year one of the Biden Administration’s term in the history books, we have a clearer sense of how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proceeding on all fronts. EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) focuses on long-standing challenges, especially a renewed effort to meet Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation requirements and determine how best to meet core pesticide registration review obligations in 2022. These program priorities must reflect special considerations...
The Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, adopted by the European Commission in October 2020, calls on the Commission to ensure that Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on the classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP Regulation) is the central legislation for hazard classification and allows the Commission to initiate harmonised classifications. This article examines the effect of possible CLP amendments.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on April 8, 2022, that it used its Penalty Offense Authority to take action against Kohl’s and Walmart “for falsely marketing dozens of rayon textile products as bamboo.” FTC also charged both companies with making deceptive environmental claims, “touting that the ‘bamboo’ textiles were made using ecofriendly processes, while in reality converting bamboo into rayon requires the use of toxic chemicals and results in hazardous...
On April 5, 2022, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a notice proposing additional modifications to its proposal to modify its Proposition 65 (Prop 65) Article 6 “clear and reasonable warnings” regulations for “short-form” warnings (Notice). OEHHA first proposed to change the short-form warning requirements on January 8, 2021. On December 13, 2021, OEHHA issued a notice proposing modifications to the revisions in its first proposal. More...
The U.S. Environmental Protection (EPA) announced on April 5, 2022, that it will propose to prohibit ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos, the only known form of asbestos currently imported into the United States. EPA notes that the proposed rule will be “the first-ever risk management rule issued under the new process for evaluating and addressing the safety of existing chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) that was enacted in 2016.” EPA will propose to prohibit...
On April 6, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a webinar on “New Chemical Risk Management Actions under TSCA.” The slides include an embedded voiceover recording of the webinar. As reported in our January 24, 2022, blog item, in January 2022, EPA announced an effort to streamline the review of new biobased or waste-derived chemicals that could displace current, higher greenhouse gas (GHG)-emitting transportation fuels. EPA states that to support this...
On April 5, 2022, Chemical Watch quoted Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent policy interpretation on the fluorination of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) containers. [I]n some respects, there has been little surprise at the agency’s view that the generation of certain PFASs during the fluorination of polyolefins – including polyethylene – is an...
The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) published on April 4, 2022, a request for information (RFI) from interested parties on federal programs and activities in support of sustainable chemistry. 87 Fed. Reg. 19539. OSTP notes that “[t]he term “sustainable chemistry” does not have a consensus definition and most uses of the term indicate that it is synonymous with “green chemistry.”” OSTP requests information on the preferred definition for sustainable chemistry. OSTP...
April 4, 2022
Lynn L. Bergeson Quoted in Bloomberg Law Article “White House to Define ‘Sustainable Chemistry’ as EU Demands It”
On April 1, 2022, an article written by Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), was referenced by Bloomberg Law regarding the White House's efforts to define "sustinable chemistry." The quoted article, "Don’t Ignore Game-Changing EU Environmental Initiatives," discusses noteworthy European Union (EU) chemical regulatory and policy initiatives that are expected to impact U.S. chemical stakeholders. The White...