The October 21, 2011, Federal Register includes two test rules concerning high production volume (HPV) chemicals: a final test rule for certain chemicals from the third group, and a proposed test rule and proposed significant new use rule (SNUR) for the fourth group of chemicals. See 76 Fed. Reg. 65385 and 65580, respectively. The proposed “SNUR plus test rule” represents a novel approach for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in handling HPV chemicals...
On October 20, 2011, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) released its 2011 Environmental, Health, and Safety Research Strategy (Strategy), which is intended to provide guidance to the federal agencies that produce scientific information for risk management, regulatory decision-making, product use, research planning, and public outreach. The Strategy lists the following core research areas providing this information: (1) nanomaterial measurement infrastructure; (2) human...
The European Commission (EC) adopted on October 18, 2011, a Recommendation on the definition of a nanomaterial. The Recommendation “invites” member states, European Union agencies, and economic operators to use the following definition of nanomaterial “in the adoption and implementation of legislation and policy and research programmes concerning products of nanotechnologies”: The Recommendation states that, by December 2014, the EC will review the definition...
October 6, 2011
House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Environmental Regulation and Its Impact on the Economy
On October 6, 2011, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy held a hearing on “Chemical Risk Assessment: What Works for Jobs and the Economy?” According to the background memorandum, the hearing was intended to explore the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), and the relationship between IRIS and EPA’s regulatory requirements, “specifically whether IRIS is producing high quality...
On September 28, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its final guidance on the weight-of-evidence (WoE) (Final WoE Guidance) analysis that it will use to evaluate the results of data submitted in response to test orders issued for Tier 1 screening under the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP). This WoE analysis, in turn, will be used to determine what substances merit further study under Tier 2 as substances that have the potential to...
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....
On September 19-20, 2011, the Pesticide Operations Management (POM) Working Committee (WC) of the State Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) Issues Research & Evaluation Group (SFIREG) met in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offices in Arlington, Virginia. Through a cooperative agreement in 1978, EPA and the Association of American Pesticide Control Officials (AAPCO) created SFIREG, an AAPCO committee with EPA funding, to promote information exchange and...
On September 7, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a webinar regarding its plans to use a two-step process to identify priority chemical substances for review and assessment under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA states that its goal is “to identify priority chemicals for near-term evaluation, not to screen and prioritize the entire TSCA Inventory of approximately 84,000 chemicals.” EPA held the webinar to obtain public input on the prioritization...
September 15, 20111:30 – 3:30 p.m. (EDT) Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C) is hosting a complimentary webinar on the final Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) Rule on September 15, 2011. The new rule ushers in a new chemical information reporting era under TSCA, and promises to pose some formidable compliance challenges for entities subject to its provisions. This webinar will provide an overview of the new rule, highlight some of the...
SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 — SAVE THE DATE Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C), B&C Consortia Management, L.L.C. (BCCM), The Acta Group, L.L.C. (Acta), and The Acta Group EU, Ltd (Acta EU) are pleased to announce that B&C will host a complimentary webinar on the final Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) Rule on Thursday, September 15, 2011, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (EDT). This webinar will provide an overview of the new rule,...