Category: Risk Assessment Issues

September 12, 2013

Better Risk Assessments, Regulation Needed As Nanomaterials Proliferate

The September 12, 2013 issue of Bloomberg BNA Daily Environment Report included comments made by Lynn L. Bergeson during her “Nanomaterials: Global Governance Initiatives” Presentation: “The global growing use of nanomaterials demands a better understanding of risks and sensible governance strategies as businesses confront questions regarding product liability and worker compensation, speakers said at the Chemcon Asia 2013 conference in Seoul. Lynn Bergeson, managing partner at...
June 21, 2013

Lynn L. Bergeson, “US EPA Releases Draft TSCA Chemical Risk Assessment,” Environmental Quality Management, Summer 2013.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) released its first draft risk assessments developed under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) “Work Plan Program” on January 4, 2013. The draft risk assessments cover particular uses of five chemicals found in household products. While the chemicals covered in these first draft assessments may or may not be of interest to Environmental Quality Management readers, the draft assessments can give us a sense of how the Agency is...
June 1, 2013

Lynn L. Bergeson, “2013 Chemical Assessment List Released,” Pollution Engineering, June 1, 2013.

As part of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Work Plan, EPA announced on March 27, 2013, that it would begin assessments on 23 chemicals, with a specific focus on flame retardant chemicals. The Agency will evaluate 20 flame retardant chemicals, conducting full risk assessments for four of the flame retardants, three of which are on the TSCA Work Plan, and one of which was the subject of an Action Plan.
January 7, 2013

EPA Announces Availability of Draft Chemical Risk Assessments

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on January 4, 2013, the availability of the first draft risk assessments developed under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Work Plan. The draft risk assessments are for particular uses of five chemicals found in household products: methylene chloride or dichloromethane (DCM) and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) in paint stripper products; trichloroethylene (TCE) as a degreaser and a spray-on protective coating; antimony trioxide (ATO) as a...
October 25, 2012

EC Begins Public Consultation On Discussion Paper Addressing The New Challenges For Risk Assessment

On October 19, 2012, the European Comission (EC) began a public consultation on a preliminary opinion entitled Addressing the New Challenges for Risk Assessment. The Inter-Committee Coordination Group of the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR), Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS), and Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER) established a joint working group to review risk assessment procedures and new challenges for...
July 3, 2012

FAO/WHO Release Draft Paper on Risk Assessment and Risk Management of Nanotechnologies for Comment

The United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) have released a draft paper entitled State of the art on the initiatives and activities relevant to risk assessment and risk management of nanotechnologies in the food and agriculture sectors for comment. FAO and WHO commissioned the paper with the objective of summarizing and analyzing the information that has become available since their 2009 expert meeting and determining possible courses...
October 3, 2011

House Subcommittee to Hold Hearing on Chemical Risk Assessment

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy will hold a hearing on October 6, 2011, on "Chemical Risk Assessment: What Works for Jobs and the Economy?" The hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m. The witness list is not yet publicly available. We understand the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) process will be a subject of discussion.