On February 15, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) submitted to the Office of Management and Budget a final rule regarding a further compliance date extension for phenol, isopropylated phosphate (3:1) (PIP (3:1)). EPA proposed in October 2021 to extend the compliance date applicable to the processing and distribution in commerce of certain PIP (3:1)-containing articles and the PIP (3:1) used to make those articles until October 31, 2024, along with the associated recordkeeping...
February 16, 2022
Lynn L. Bergeson and Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Quoted by Inside TSCA in “Industry Sees NAMs Aiding New Chemical Reviews, But Laments PPE Delays”
On February 15, 2022, Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), and Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry, B&C, were quoted by Inside TSCA regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) application of new approach methods (NAMs) and category-based analyses for new-chemical reviews. An industry attorney says EPA’s application of new approach methods (NAMs) and category-based analyses for...
February 16, 2022
Registration Opens for NanoEHS Webinar on “What We Know about NanoEHS: Building International Bridges”
The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold a webinar on “What We Know about NanoEHS: Building International Bridges” on March 1, 2022. NNI states that it has supported the emergence of an international community of collaborative researchers on the environmental, health, and safety aspects of nanomaterials (nanoEHS). According to NNI, “[b]y advancing tools, methods, and standards for robust health and safety evaluation, these cooperative efforts have furthered the safe and...
February 15, 2022
Environmental Law 2022, February 10, 11, and 15, 2022, via webinar
American Law Institute Continuing Legal Education (ALI CLE) and the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) present Environmental Law 2022, covering the latest developments in natural resources (air, water, species), climate, chemical, energy, and environmental justice; and what’s happened a year into a new Congress, a more conservative Supreme Court, and under the Biden-Harris administration, as well as what the future holds. Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing...
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 14, 2022, that it will reopen the comment period for its draft revision to the risk determination for the cyclic aliphatic bromide cluster (HBCD) risk evaluation issued under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). As reported in our December 29, 2021, memorandum, EPA is reconsidering two key aspects of the risk determinations for HBCD. First, EPA proposes that the appropriate approach to these determinations under TSCA and...
February 15, 2022
EC Notifies WTO of Draft Amendment to Cosmetics Regulation to Prohibit Certain Nanomaterials
The European Commission (EC) notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) on February 11, 2022, of a draft amendment to the Cosmetics Regulation regarding the use of certain nanomaterials in cosmetics products. The EC states that the amendment is required to enact the prohibition to use in cosmetic products certain nanomaterials for which the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) identified a basis of concern. The draft amendment would revise Annex II to the Cosmetics Regulation (list...
February 15, 2022
EPA Updates Resources to Help Federal Purchasers Meet the Biden Administration’s Sustainability Goal
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 4, 2022, the release of a “new and improved” Framework for the Assessment of Environmental Performance Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing under its Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) program, as well as a webpage highlighting ecolabel criteria that address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). EPA states that “[t]hese actions are a key...
February 14, 2022
EPA Updates Resources to Help Federal Purchasers Meet the Biden Administration’s Sustainability Goals
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on February 4, 2022, the release of a “new and improved” Framework for the Assessment of Environmental Performance Standards and Ecolabels for Federal Purchasing under its Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) program, as well as a webpage highlighting ecolabel criteria that address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). EPA states that “[t]hese actions are a key step in implementing...
On January 18, 2022, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “What does ‘Graphene’ really look like and why is it not ‘carbon nanotubes’” by Dr. Alberto Bianco, Dr. Maurizio Prato, and Dr. Kostas Kostarelos, of the Graphene Flagship, an EU research initiative, about graphene and why it is not the same as carbon nanotubes. The article states that in particular, the authors wish to emphasize “that ‘graphene’ as a single type of...