TSCAblog®

On December 27, 2022, the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent Inhance Technologies USA from generating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) when fluorinating plastic containers. According to CEH and PEER’s joint press release, testing conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Notre Dame researchers, and other...

On December 29, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a report entitled The EPA’s Fiscal Years 2020 and 2019 Toxic Substances Control Act Service Fee Fund Financial Statements. The Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg Act) requires EPA to prepare and OIG to audit the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Service Fee Fund financial statements each year. According to OIG, its primary objectives were...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced on December 28, 2022, that it received a petition requesting the addition of polyoxymethylene to the list of taxable substances under Section 4672(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. 87 Fed. Reg. 79938. The petitioner is Celanese Ltd., an exporter of polyoxymethylene. According to the petition, “polyoxymethylene is an engineering thermoplastic used in precision parts requiring high stiffness, low friction, and excellent dimensional stability. It...

On December 20, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requested public comment on its Guides for the Use of Environmental Claims (Green Guides). FTC intends the Green Guides to help marketers avoid making environmental marketing claims that are unfair or deceptive under Section 5 of the FTC Act. 87 Fed. Reg. 77766. FTC states in its December 14, 2022, news release that it seeks to update the Green Guides “based on increasing consumer interest in buying...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on December 21, 2022, that it seeks public nominations of scientific and technical experts whom EPA can consider for service as ad hoc reviewers assisting the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) with the peer review of two draft documents entitled “Draft Proposed Principles of Cumulative Risk Assessment Under the Toxic Substances Control Act” and “Draft Proposed Approach for Cumulative Risk Assessment of...

On December 15, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a redesign and updates to the statistics web page for the New Chemicals Review Program. According to EPA, the update includes additional information and metrics on the Agency’s review of new chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), increasing transparency for the public, the regulated community, and other stakeholders. According to EPA, before TSCA was amended in 2016 by the...

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) will hold a virtual public meeting on January 10, 2023, on the chemicals under consideration for listing as Chemicals of Concern (COC) and High Priority Chemicals (HPC) for the Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Products (TCCP) program. NYS DEC will present an overview of the enacted TCCP law and discuss the chemicals under consideration for listing as COCs and HPCs that manufacturers will be required to report if present in...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on November 30, 2020, that it is inviting small businesses, governments, and not-for-profits to participate as Small Entity Representatives (SER) to provide advice and recommendations to two Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) Panels.  One Panel will focus on EPA’s development of a proposed rule to address unreasonable risks identified in EPA’s recently completed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluation for...

On December 2, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed significant new use rules (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN) and are also subject to Orders issued by EPA pursuant to TSCA. 87 Fed. Reg. 74072. The SNURs require persons who intend to manufacture (defined by statute to include import) or process any of these chemical substances for an activity that is proposed as a...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on December 7, 2022, that the final video recording, slide deck, and case study worksheets from the CompTox Chemicals Dashboard virtual training are now available. EPA also announced that the Dashboard recently released a new version (v2.1.1). New features include: A new link to an updated set of Help Pages containing new information; Ability to visualize structures in Batch Search; Ability to filter out...