On March 27, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted a signed final rule that will establish final significant new use rules (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for 13 chemical substances that are the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN). The final rule is significant because the 13 chemical substances are not also subject to consent orders. During the review, EPA identified certain reasonably foreseen conditions of use that it designated as...
Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) was pleased to present the complimentary webinar “FIFRA Hot Topics in Pesticide, Biocides, and Other Agricultural Chemicals Regulation and Litigation.” Richard P. Keigwin, Jr., Director, Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP), Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Amy Plato Roberts, Regulatory Affairs Manager, Lallemand Plant Care, North America; Lisa M. Campbell,...
The 21st Century has witnessed intense renewed interest in commercialising new biobased chemicals, defined generally to include chemicals that are derived fromplants and otherrenewablematerials. The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is the U.S. law thatregulatesindustrial chemicalsubstances,including biobased chemicals, used in applications other than food, drugs, cosmetics, and pesticides, or uses that are regulated by other federal authorities. TSCA wassignificantly amended in 2016, and...
On March 27, 2019, the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight and Subcommittee on Environment held a hearing on “EPA’s IRIS Program: Reviewing its Progress and Roadblocks Ahead.” The hearing focused on issues with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program, as described in two recent reports issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Chemical Assessments:...
This week, I sat down with my colleague Jim Aidala, a Senior Government Affairs Consultant here at the firm, to discuss 2019 and the state of industrial and agricultural chemical regulation: what is to come, what to expect, and how we can prepare for it. We begin, of course, by looking at 2018, chiefly, the appointment and confirmation of Alexandra Dunn, the new EPA Assistant Administrator in the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention,...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released on March 20, 2019, a list of 40 chemicals for which EPA is initiating the prioritization process for risk evaluation. Section 6(b)(2)(B) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires that, as of three and a half years after enactment (by December 22, 2019), at least 20 high-priority chemicals be undergoing risk evaluations and at least 20 low-priority chemicals be designated by EPA. In a March 21, 2019, Federal Register...
SAVE THE DATE New TSCA At Three Wednesday, June 24, 2019, 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (EDT) Milken Institute School of Public HealthGeorge Washington University950 New Hampshire Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. Join the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, and Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) for a one-day conference providing updates and insights regarding year three of the federal...
March 20, 2019
EPA Bans Consumer Sales of Methylene Chloride Paint Removers, Seeks Comment on Program for Commercial Uses
On March 15, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a signed final rule that prohibits the manufacture (including import), processing, and distribution of methylene chloride for consumer paint and coating removal. EPA states that it “determined that the use of methylene chloride in consumer paint and coating removal presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health due to acute human lethality.” Under the final rule, paint removal products containing...
March 20, 2019
Bloomberg Environment Features Comments by Kathleen M. Roberts Regarding EPA’s High Priority Chemical Determinations
On March 20, 2019, Bloomberg Environment spoke with Kathleen M. Roberts, Senior Regulatory Consultant, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) and vice president of B&C® Consortia Management LLC (BC-CM), for the article “Industry Advisers Back EPA Strategy on Chemical Vetting.” Looking at several chemicals that serve a similar commercial function can help industry provide the EPA with what it needs to sort the 40 chemicals into the two categories […] For example,...
Available On Demand California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65 (Prop 65), requires businesses in California to provide warnings about certain consumer product, occupational, and/or environmental exposures to substances that the State of California has determined to be known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. Amendment regulations pertinent to these warnings effective as of August 2018 focused many companies on the requirements,...