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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) held a virtual public meeting on September 15, 2021, on its forthcoming regulations to implement the Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Products Law. New York’s Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) Article 37 Title 9 establishes an ingredient disclosure program and prohibits certain chemicals in children’s products. ECL Article 37 instructs NYS DEC to promulgate lists of chemicals of concern and high priority chemicals that...

Download Transcript This week I sat down with Dr. Richard E. Engler, B&C’s and The Acta Group’s (our consulting affiliate) Director of Chemistry, to discuss the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) continuing struggle to regulate certain persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals, especially those found in finished products, what EPA refers to as “articles.” The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) has always applied to the products, or articles, that...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. As part of a White House roundtable to launch the Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) Grand Challenge to decarbonize the aviation sector by 2050, on September 9, 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the availability of $64.7 million in funding for projects focused on the production of cost-effective and low-carbon biofuels. DOE aims to advance technologies to replace petroleum fuels used in heavy-duty forms of...

The implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) provisions relating to regulating persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) chemicals has been anything but smooth. On September 3, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it intends to initiate new PBT rulemaking and anticipates proposing new rules for five PBT chemicals subject to final risk management rules under TSCA Section 6(h). Additionally, and happily, the agency extended the compliance dates for the...

On September 14, 2021, Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), was quoted by Chemical Watch regarding criticism of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to grant industry additional time to comply with a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) prohibition on phenol, isopropylated phosphate (3:1) – or PIP (3:1) – in articles.  Some in industry, however, argue the approach represents the agency’s best effort in...

On September 14, 2021, 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 Chemical Watch in the article “US EPA ‘turns up the heat’ on industry to demonstrate PIP rule challenges.” The EPA, however, has made clear that it will not give [companies] further time lightly.  Many commenters “did not provide sufficiently specific information about their...

The Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) announced on August 9, 2021, publication of a study entitled Characterization of Unintentionally Released Nanometric Particles in Various Workplaces. The study characterizes unintentionally released nanoparticles (URNP) found in six workplaces — an underground mine, a truck repair shop, an underground transportation network, a foundry, a machine shop, and a wax casting shop — on the basis of...

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) and The Acta Group (Acta®) are pleased to announce that Meibao Zhuang, Ph.D., has joined our firms as Senior Scientist and Regulatory Consultant. Dr. Zhuang offers clients in-depth scientific knowledge and exceptional skills in global and regional regulatory strategy honed over a nearly 20-year career leading regulatory efforts with Corteva Agriscience (Corteva) and Dow AgroSciences LLC (Dow). Dr. Zhuang is a research scientist with a Ph.D. in...

On September 7, 2021, the European Commission (EC) Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) posted a preliminary opinion on “Draft Environmental Quality Standards for Priority Substances under the Water Framework Directive” for silver and its compounds. The Water Framework Directive requires the EC to identify priority substances among those presenting significant risk to or via the aquatic environment and to set environmental quality standards (EQS) for...

Registration has opened for a September 22, 2021, webinar held by the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) on “What We Know about NanoEHS: Measurement and Characterization.” The webinar’s speakers will explore the impact of advances in nanomaterial measurement and characterization on the safe and responsible development of nanotechnology. Vincent Hackley, Research Chemist, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will moderate. The panel will include:...