The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 16, 2023, that the latest Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory is now available on its website. The TSCA Inventory is a list of all existing chemical substances manufactured, processed, or imported in the United States. According to EPA, this update to the public TSCA Inventory is part of its biannual posting of non-confidential Inventory data. EPA plans the next regular update of the TSCA...
February 16, 2023
Lynn L. Bergeson Quoted by Bloomberg Law in Article “EU Inaction on Nanomaterials Leading to Risks, Groups Say”
On February 15, 2023, Bloomberg Law quoted Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), regarding claims by environmental groups that the European Union (EU) has failed to update rules on nanomaterials, leading to insufficient information being provided about the potential health and environmental risks posed by the substances. An update of REACH is being prepared that will, among other things, write the mid-2022 definition of...
February 16, 2023
ECOS and BUND Publish Recommendations for the Testing of Nano- and Advanced Materials
On February 15, 2023, the Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS) and the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND), non-governmental organizations in Europe working on both standardization and nanotechnologies, announced the release of a report entitled “Making nano- and advanced materials safe for all: State of play of discussions at the OECD.” According to the organizations, the use of nanomaterials remains underregulated in the European Union (EU). The press...
February 15, 2023
France Appeals European General Court Decision Annulling the Harmonized Classification and Labeling of Titanium Dioxide
According to a February 13, 2023, press release issued by France’s Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion and Ministry of Energy Transition, France is appealing the November 23, 2022, decision of the European General Court that annuls the 2019 harmonized classification and labeling of titanium dioxide as a carcinogenic substance by inhalation in certain powder forms. As reported in our December 6, 2022, memorandum, the court concluded that the European...
February 15, 2023
Lynn L. Bergeson and L. Claire Hansen, “Toxic Substances Law Creating More Confusion for Legal Teams and Public,” Chemical Processing, February 15, 2023.
This article focuses on one of many abrupt, and in some views, unlawful, EPA policy shifts frustrating lawyers and confusing the public. The EPA moved in 2021 from a “conditions of use” approach to evaluating chemical risk to a “whole chemical” approach. This seemingly modest change is a key reason why lawyers advising chemical stakeholders are struggling and why there may be a lot of TSCA litigation in the EPA’s future....
February 14, 2023
EPA Accepting Public Comments on Candidates to Be Ad Hoc Reviewers for Draft Documents Related to Cumulative Risk Assessment under TSCA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 13, 2023, that it will accept public comments on candidates under consideration for selection as ad hoc reviewers to assist the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) with peer review of two draft documents related to cumulative risk assessment under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Biographies of these candidates are available on regulations.gov. If selected, candidates will serve as...
February 14, 2023
NYS DEC Accepting Comments until March 20, 2023, on Chemicals under Consideration for Listing as Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Products
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) will hold a virtual public meeting on February 16, 2023, postponed from January 10, 2023, on the chemicals under consideration for listing as Chemicals of Concern (COC) and High-Priority Chemicals (HPC) for the Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Products (TCCP) program. NYS DEC will present an overview of the enacted TCCP law and discuss the chemicals under consideration for listing as COCs and HPCs that manufacturers will be...
February 14, 2023
BETO Will Hold Webinar on February 22 on DOE’s Progress Toward Meeting the Goals of the SAF Grand Ch
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) will hold a webinar on February 22, 2023, entitled “DOE’s Progress Toward Meeting the Goals of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge.” The Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) Grand Challenge is a government-wide commitment to scale up production of SAF to 35 billion gallons per year by 2050 and reduce lifecycle aviation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by...
February 13, 2023
EPA Will Hold Third and Final TSCA Engineering Initiative Webinar on February 28, 2023
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 23, 2023, that the New Chemicals Program will hold a webinar on February 28, 2023, on EPA’s process for assessing the potential risks of new chemicals under Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the types of data EPA considers in this assessment. EPA states that specifically, the upcoming webinar will cover commonly missed information in Section 5 submissions and how EPA evaluates environmental...