On June 22, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Strategic Plan to Promote the Development and Implementation of Alternative Test Methods Within the TSCA Program. Development of the Strategic Plan was required under Section 4(h)(2)(A) of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act with a deadline of not later than two years after enactment. Release of the final Strategic Plan occurred on the second anniversary of enactment of...
Category: Risk Assessment Issues
Lynn L. Bergeson, Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., And Susan M. Kirsch Contribute To ABA SEER’s The Year In Review 2017: Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) is pleased to announce the publication of The Year in Review 2017: Environment, Energy, and Resources Law by the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER). The Year in Review 2017 provides an annual summary of developments in environmental, energy, and resources law....
On June 1, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it took “three important steps” intended to ensure chemical safety under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg Act), which amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA released the following for public comment: (1) the first ten problem formulation documents, (2) EPA’s systemic review approach document, and (3) a significant new use rule (SNUR)...
June 4, 2018
Richard E. Engler, Ph.D. Named Director of Chemistry of The Acta Group and Bergeson & Campbell, P.C.
The Acta Group (Acta®) and Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) are pleased to announce that Richard E. Engler, Ph.D. has been named Director of Chemistry for our firms. Dr. Engler joined Acta and B&C as Senior Chemist in January 2015 after nearly two decades at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) and has offered his extensive understanding of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and other...
On May 23, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held an “Environmental Modeling Public Meeting” (EMPM). As stated in the April 12, 2018, Federal Register notice announcing the meeting, the “EMPM provides a public forum for EPA and its stakeholders to discuss current issues related to modeling pesticide fate, transport, and exposure for pesticide risk assessments in a regulatory context.” The overall theme of the EMPM was the quantitative use of...
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a May 17, 2018, document entitled Developments in Delegations on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials — Tour de Table. The document compiles information provided by delegations for the February 2018 OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) meeting on current developments on the safety of manufactured nanomaterials. It aims to summarize relevant information on activities related to...
The European Union Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) has posted the workshop report from the March 9, 2018, Stakeholder Dialogue meeting. According to the report, the annual meeting focused on providing an update on EUON and allowing stakeholders an opportunity to share their views on expectations on the future development of EUON. During his welcome address, Jukka Malm, European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), acknowledged that some stakeholders preferred a mandatory register...
May 18, 2018
Draft Environmental Impact Statement And Preliminary Pest Risk Assessment For GE Citrus Tristeza Vir
By Lynn L. Bergeson On May 11, 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced the availability of a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for public review and comment. This document evaluates the possible environmental impacts from a potential approval of a permit to release a genetically engineered (GE) Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) through Florida. This GE plant virus would be used as a biological control...
The 32nd Triennial Congress of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) was held April 29 through May 4, 2018, in Dublin, Ireland. Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM) has published the abstracts for the Congress online, including the following ones concerning nanomaterials: “Update of potential hazards of nanomaterials,” by PA Schulte, I Iavicoli; “Overview — update of potential hazards of engineered nanomaterials,” by PA Schulte;...
On April 23-24, 2018, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) held a NanoDialog to discuss “Nano-In-Vivo,” a long-term research project intended to close existing data gaps concerning the safety of nanomaterials. BMU, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), and BASF SE, with the participation of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM)...