All Knowledge & Insights By Date

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced the availability of its fiscal year (FY) 2022 oversight plan on December 14, 2021. According to OIG, the plan reflects the priority work that the OIG believes is necessary to keep EPA, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), and Congress fully informed about issues relating to the administration of EPA programs and operations. The planned oversight projects...

On December 10, 2021, the Biden Administration released its Fall 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule list, the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) is working on the following rulemakings under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Rulemakings at the proposed stage include: Tiered Data Reporting to Inform Prioritization, Risk Evaluation, and Risk Management Under TSCA...

On December 2, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published an updated New Approach Methods (NAM) Work Plan (Updated Work Plan). EPA created the work plan to prioritize its efforts and resources toward activities that aim to reduce the use of vertebrate animal testing while continuing to protect human health and the environment. EPA describes its updated roadmap and identifies steps intended to reduce the use of vertebrate animals for toxicity testing and related research...

On November 18, 2021, the United Farm Workers and several other non-governmental organizations (NGO) filed a petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revoke all food tolerances and cancel registrations for organophosphate (OP) pesticides (Petition). The Petition was filed pursuant to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), 21 U.S.C. Section 346a(d), the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. Section 551, and the First Amendment Constitutional Right to...

On December 2, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it released the registration review schedule for the next four years through fiscal year (FY) 2025. While historically this schedule has been updated once each year, EPA states that going forward it will be updated on a quarterly basis. The 2007 amendment of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) requires that EPA review each registered pesticide at least every 15...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) held a webinar on November 16, 2021, entitled “What We Know about NanoEHS: Risk Assessment and Risk Management.” The webinar’s speakers explored the impact of advances in risk assessment and risk management on the safe and responsible development of nanotechnology. The panel included: Rick Canady, Director and Founder, NeutralScience L3C; Igor Linkov, Research Physical Scientist, Environmental Laboratory, U.S. Army Engineer Research and...

On November 15, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced the availability of its annual report summarizing what OIG considers the “most serious management and performance challenges facing the agency.” According to OIG, EPA’s top management challenges in fiscal year (FY) 2022 include: Mitigating the Causes and Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change: EPA must take a leadership role in limiting climate change and mitigating...

On November 11, 2021, James V. Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), was quoted by Inside EPA’s Inside TSCA regarding state regulations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). A former EPA toxics chief says Michigan’s new executive order limiting purchases of products made with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) not only expands a nationwide patchwork of state-level PFAS policies, but shows that the reformed...

By Lynn L. Bergeson  The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change held a hearing on October 27, 2021, on “TSCA and Public Health: Fulfilling the Promise of the Lautenberg Act.” The October 25, 2021, briefing memorandum notes that the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (the Lautenberg Act) comprehensively amended TSCA, “including key reforms to increase EPA’s authority to mandate testing, require EPA to...

By  Lynn L. Bergeson  On October 1, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of the Draft FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan. 86 Fed. Reg. 54448. The draft Strategic Plan communicates EPA’s priorities and provides the roadmap for achieving its mission to protect human health and the environment. The draft Strategic Plan outlines objectives with the following goals: Goal 1: Tackle the Climate Crisis; Goal 2: Take Decisive Action to Advance...

By Lynn L. Bergeson On October 1, 2021, EPA announced a series of virtual meetings of the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) Chemical Safety for Sustainability and Health and Environmental Risk Assessment (CSS HERA) Subcommittee to review recent progress and activities of the Chemical Safety Analytics (CSA) and Emerging Materials and Technologies (EMT) research areas. Meetings are open to the public, and EPA accepted comments until November 3, 2021. The initial meeting will be held over...

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change held a hearing on October 27, 2021, on “TSCA and Public Health: Fulfilling the Promise of the Lautenberg Act.” The October 25, 2021, briefing memorandum notes that the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (the Lautenberg Act) comprehensively amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), “including key reforms to increase [the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)]...

On October 27, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requested public nominations of scientific experts to consider for service as ad hoc reviewers assisting the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) with two peer review topics anticipated for early 2022: the draft EPA Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Systematic Review Protocol and the draft EPA TSCA Screening Level Approach for Assessing Ambient Air and Water Exposures to Fenceline Communities. 86...

Registration has opened for a November 16, 2021, webinar held by the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) on “What We Know about NanoEHS: Risk Assessment and Risk Management.” The webinar’s speakers will explore the impact of advances in risk assessment and risk management on the safe and responsible development of nanotechnology. The panel will include: Rick Canady, Director and Founder, NeutralScience L3C; Igor Linkov, Research Physical Scientist Environmental Laboratory,...

On October 20, 2021, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on “Evaluating the Federal Response to the Persistence and Impacts of PFAS Chemicals on our Environment.” The sole witness called before the Committee was the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water, Radhika Fox. The focus of the hearing was to address the recently released EPA Strategic Roadmap for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)....

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   On October 1, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of the Draft FY 2022-2026 EPA Strategic Plan. 86 Fed. Reg. 54448. The draft Strategic Plan communicates EPA’s priorities and provides the roadmap for achieving its mission to protect human health and the environment. The draft Strategic Plan outlines objectives within the following strategic goals: Goal 1: Tackle the Climate Crisis; Goal 2: Take...

On October 18, 2021, the Biden Administration announced a multi-agency plan to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination nationwide. According to the White House, agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Defense (DOD), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), will take actions to...

On October 11, 2021, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) announced the release of a scientific guide to assess the risks posed by nanomaterials in food. According to ANSES, engineered nanomaterials are used in the food sector as: Food additives to improve a product’s appearance and palatability by modifying its structure, color, or texture; Additives in the formulation of food contact materials to modify the properties of...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) announced on October 14, 2021, several actions intended to enhance scientific integrity, including establishing two internal science policy advisory councils, creating a new senior-level career position to serve as a science policy advisor to the Assistant Administrator, and making further improvements to policies and procedures. The announcement...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) announced on October 14, 2021, several actions intended to enhance scientific integrity, including establishing two internal science policy advisory councils, creating a new senior-level career position to serve as a science policy advisor to the Assistant Administrator, and making further improvements to policies and procedures. The announcement includes the following actions: New...