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Download transcript This week I sat down with Carla N. Hutton, Regulatory Analyst at B&C. Carla is also co-editor of the Nano Blog that B&C has prepared for years. Carla is uniquely well suited to discuss a report the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently issued on developing occupational exposure limits or “bands” for engineered nanomaterials. There are thousands of chemicals in use in the workplace, but far fewer government-issued,...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on July 29, 2021, the availability of the preliminary Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data on chemical releases, chemical waste management, and pollution prevention activities that took place during 2020 at almost 21,000 federal and industrial facilities in the United States. EPA notes that the preliminary data include the first-ever reporting on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) added to the TRI by the 2020 National...

To help achieve the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal, the European Commission adopted the chemicals strategy for sustainability in October 2020. The strategy suggests that the Commission can address pressing human health and environmental concerns by reinforcing Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on the classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures – one of the EU’s cornerstones for regulating chemicals.

On July 15, 2021, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “The ECHA Nanomaterials Expert Group (NMEG)” by Frank Le Curieux, Scientific Area Leader for Genotoxicity at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). Le Curieux provides a brief summary of the creation of NMEG and its history. NMEG’s current mandate is to provide informal and non-binding scientific and technical advice on questions related to nanomaterials or nanoforms of substances...

PFAS Reporting Rules - What Every Company Needs To Know: When it comes to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not messing around. The Agency announced on June 10, 2021, three actions intended to protect communities from PFAS: Proposing a rule designed to obtain comprehensive data on more than 1,000 PFAS manufactured in the United States,  Withdrawing guidance that EPA believes weakened its July 2020 significant new use rule...

As reported in our May 7, 2021, blog item, the European Commission (EC) recently held a targeted stakeholder consultation to update, test, and verify the preliminary findings of its review of the 2011 Recommendation on the definition of a nanomaterial. According to a July 23, 2021, news item posted by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), in its response to the consultation, ANSES maintained that the changes proposed by the EC...

As reported in our June 28, 2021, blog item, on June 28, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed reporting and recordkeeping requirements for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 86 Fed. Reg. 33926. EPA announced on July 29, 2021, that it is extending the comment deadline to September 27, 2021. EPA will announce the extension of the comment deadline in the Federal Register. The proposed rule would...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A.   On July 26, 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the availability of $60 million in funding for its cohort of university-based Industrial Assessment Centers (IACs). The IACs assist small- and medium-sized manufacturers in reducing their carbon footprint and lowering energy costs. IACs, with particular attention to disadvantaged and underrepresented communities, also train the next generation of...

Pursuant to Article 16 (10) and (11) of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 (Cosmetics Regulation), the European Commission (EC) is required to submit to the European Parliament and the Council an annual status report on the use of nanomaterials in cosmetic products and to review the Regulation’s provisions concerning nanomaterials. The July 22, 2021, report includes the following main findings: On average, ten new cosmetic products containing nanomaterials are placed on the European Union...

The European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) has begun a public comment period on its preliminary opinion on HAA299 (nano). The EC asked SCCS whether it considered HAA299 (nano) safe when used as an ultraviolet (UV) filter in cosmetic products up to a maximum concentration of ten percent. According to the preliminary opinion, SCCS considers that HAA299 (nano) as covered within the provided characteristics is safe when used as a UV filter in dermally...