All Knowledge & Insights By Date

On May 22, 2015, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued a call for new scientific information relevant to the evaluation of the risk to bees in the European Union (EU) from the use of the three neonicotinoid pesticide active substances:  clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam (the substances). The call for data complies with the decision taken by the European Commission in May 2013, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 485/2013, to put in place measures to...

The House Energy and Commerce Committee convened a markup session on June 2 and 3, 2015, to consider a slightly revised version of the TSCA Modernization Act of 2015 as H.R. 2576. As reported in our June 3, 2015, memorandum, the House Committee passed the marked up bill. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy had considered and passed an earlier discussion draft version of the TSCA Modernization Act (TMA2 DD) in May 2015, while an initial discussion draft...

On May 31, 2016, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) began a public consultation on a harmonized classification and labeling (CLH) proposal submitted by France for titanium dioxide.  The proposed entry in Annex VI of the Classification, Labeling, and Packaging (CLP) Regulation is “Carc. 1B, H350i.”  The CLH report states:  “Based on available evidence and information in the registration dossier (e.g. mechanism of carcinogenicity, characterization of the particles), the proposed...

On April 15, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) held a one-day workshop regarding assessing risks to endangered and threatened species from pesticides. This workshop was intended to provide a forum for stakeholders to offer scientific and technical feedback on the ongoing agency efforts to...

On April 2, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a letter to all registrants of nitroguanidine neonicotinoid pesticide products stating that “until the data on pollinator health have been received and appropriate risk assessments completed,” EPA is “unlikely to be in a position to determine that such uses would avoid ‘unreasonable adverse effects on the environment’ as required under FFIRA to support further regulatory expansion of these pesticides in...

Lynn Bergeson, managing partner of Bergeson & Campbell P.C., told Bloomberg BNA in an e-mail that the council’s timetables for developing work plans on chemical risk assessments, SNAcs and SNURs are aggressive. Based on a December webinar the council held, interested parties will be involved in a Web conference, face-to-face meetings and consultations beginning this year and throughout 2016, she said.

On February 16, 2015, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published the 2014 annual report of the EFSA Scientific Network of Risk Assessment of Nanotechnologies in Food and Feed, which is intended to inform the public and the EFSA Advisory Forum about the Network’s specific activities and achievements.  EFSA states that, during 2014, the Network followed-up on its priority areas and contributed to making inventories of applications of nanomaterials already present in the food/feed...

An ad hoc committee of the National Research Council (NRC) released a report, Review of California's Risk-Assessment Process for Pesticides, following its scientific and technical evaluation of the California Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) risk assessment process for pesticides. The NRC committee review, which commenced in October 2013, examined documents provided by the California EPA’s Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) regarding the processes it uses for hazard...

On January 5, 2015, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit challenging the November 6, 2014, decision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allow the continued use of tetrachlovinphos (TCVP) in flea control products used on pets. NRDC’s 2009 petition sought to cancel all pet uses of TCVP based on alleged potential health risks to children. Background In February 2014, NRDC filed a petition for a...

Canada announced on January 9, 2015, that the New Substances Program has published six new risk assessment summaries for chemicals and polymers, including a summary for multi-wall carbon nanotubes.  Environment Canada and Health Canada conduct risk assessments on new substances.  These assessments include consideration of information on physical and chemical properties, hazards, uses, and exposure to determine whether a substance is or may become harmful to human health or...