March 15, 2022

B&C Quoted in Chemical Watch Article “Plan to exclude PPE from TSCA risk evaluations sparks industry outcry”

On March 14, 2022, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) was quoted by Chemical Watch on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to no longer consider personal protective equipment (PPE) use in Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluations.  Law firm Bergeson & Campbell said assuming PPE will not be used, including in cases where required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha), "is not based on reasonably...
March 14, 2022

EPA Posts Draft Document on “Modernizing the Process and Bringing Innovative Science to Evaluate New Chemicals Under TSCA”

As reported in our February 25, 2022, blog item, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 25, 2022, the proposed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program. 87 Fed. Reg. 10784. On March 10, 2022, EPA posted the draft document entitled “Modernizing the Process and Bringing Innovative Science to Evaluate New Chemicals Under TSCA.” The Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) proposes to...
March 8, 2022

EPA Publishes Final Scope of D4 Risk Evaluation, Seeks Comment on Draft Revision to PV29 Risk Determination

On March 7, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of the final scope of the risk evaluation to be conducted for octamethylcyclotetra-siloxane (D4), a chemical substance for which EPA received a manufacturer request for risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 87 Fed. Reg. 12696. The scope document includes the conditions of use (COU), hazards, exposures, and the potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations (PESS)...
March 7, 2022

EPA Will Extend Compliance Dates for Articles Containing PIP (3:1)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on March 4, 2022, that EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan signed a final rule on March 3, 2022, that will amend the regulations applicable to phenol, isopropylated phosphate (3:1) (PIP (3:1)) promulgated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA states that it is extending the compliance date applicable to the prohibition on processing and distribution in commerce of certain PIP (3:1)-containing articles, and the PIP (3:1) used to...
March 3, 2022

The “PIPing” Point — A Conversation with Kelly Scanlon, DrPH, Director of EHS at IPC

Download transcript. Dr. Scanlon's audio quality was affected during parts of this interview due to technical issues. We apologize for the inconvenience. This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with Kelly Scanlon, DrPH, CIH, Director of Environmental Policy & Research, Global Government Relations, at IPC. IPC, as many of you know, is an organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute as a standards development organization. It publishes the most widely used...
March 2, 2022

Lynn L. Bergeson Quoted in Chemical Watch Article “EPA to scrap TSCA inventory corrections process”

On March 1, 2022, Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), was quoted by Chemical Watch responding to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) announcement that it will no longer allow companies to request corrections to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) inventory and instead require them to submit a pre-manufacture notice (PMN) for improperly identified substances.   The decision "is entirely unprincipled and...
March 1, 2022

Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Quoted in Bloomberg Law Article “EPA Drops Policy Chemical Makers Use to Correct Critical List”

On Feburary 28, 2022, Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry with Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), was quoted by Bloomberg Law regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) announcement that, as of April 26, it will no longer process chemical manufacturers’ requests to correct the specific ways chemicals on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) inventory are identified. If the EPA is concerned that companies are using correction requests to...
February 28, 2022

FIFRA Stakeholders: Update to How to Respond to an Enforcement Action or Inquiry

Contrary to popular opinion, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) enforcement activity under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) has been trending upward over the last couple of years. As noted in our earlier advisory memorandum on enforcement activity under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), although most parties subject to TSCA inspections receive a “boilerplate” letter, FIFRA enforcement actions tend to be more heterogeneous....
February 25, 2022

Lynn L. Bergeson, “Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): One Size Does Not Fit All,” Chemical Processing, February 27, 2022.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are getting a lot of attention in the United States and globally. Their varied chemical properties make the categorization of “PFAS” into a single category chemically and scientifically questionable. Increasingly, the ability to make distinctions among this large chemical category is challenging, yet failure to do so could be unwise. This article provides information on PFAS, and offers a few suggestions to keep in mind when making business...
February 23, 2022

Lynn L. Bergeson, “PFAS: making sound investment decisions,” Financier Worldwide, March 2022.

The ubiquity of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and the manufacturing sector’s decades-long reliance on them to impart functionalities in a dizzying array of products put the investor between the proverbial rock and a hard place. PFAS varied chemical properties make the broad categorisation of ‘PFAS’ into a monolithic category of ‘forever chemicals’ chemically and scientifically questionable. For better or worse, however, that is exactly what is happening today, and...