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On July 15, 2021, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “The ECHA Nanomaterials Expert Group (NMEG)” by Frank Le Curieux, Scientific Area Leader for Genotoxicity at the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). Le Curieux provides a brief summary of the creation of NMEG and its history. NMEG’s current mandate is to provide informal and non-binding scientific and technical advice on questions related to nanomaterials or nanoforms of substances...

PFAS Reporting Rules - What Every Company Needs To Know: When it comes to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not messing around. The Agency announced on June 10, 2021, three actions intended to protect communities from PFAS: Proposing a rule designed to obtain comprehensive data on more than 1,000 PFAS manufactured in the United States,  Withdrawing guidance that EPA believes weakened its July 2020 significant new use rule...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) convened a public webinar on July 27, 2021, to engage with stakeholders on the development of a proposed rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to implement a tiered data collection strategy intended to inform EPA’s prioritization, risk evaluation, and risk management activities for chemical substances or mixtures. According to the July 14, 2021, Federal Register notice announcing the webinar, EPA currently primarily...

The January 29, 2021, issue of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) NCTR Research Highlights includes an item highlighting the National Center for Toxicological Research’s (NCTR) nanotechnology-related activities in 2020.  The activities include: Nanotechnology Standards:  Two work items developed by the NCTR Nanotechnology Core Facility (Nanocore) staff became standards in February 2019 and January 2020 (Standard Practice for Performing...

On July 28, 2021, Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), was quoted by Chemical Watch regarding a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plan to evaluate fluorinated plastic food containers for potential per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) leaching.  The FDA said that while companies must fulfil "strict data requirements" to demonstrate non-hazardous conditions of use before approval, it reassesses risks as knowledge advances,...

As reported in our May 7, 2021, blog item, the European Commission (EC) recently held a targeted stakeholder consultation to update, test, and verify the preliminary findings of its review of the 2011 Recommendation on the definition of a nanomaterial. According to a July 23, 2021, news item posted by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), in its response to the consultation, ANSES maintained that the changes proposed by the EC...

As reported in our June 28, 2021, blog item, on June 28, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed reporting and recordkeeping requirements for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). 86 Fed. Reg. 33926. EPA announced on July 29, 2021, that it is extending the comment deadline to September 27, 2021. EPA will announce the extension of the comment deadline in the Federal Register. The proposed rule would...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A.   On July 26, 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the availability of $60 million in funding for its cohort of university-based Industrial Assessment Centers (IACs). The IACs assist small- and medium-sized manufacturers in reducing their carbon footprint and lowering energy costs. IACs, with particular attention to disadvantaged and underrepresented communities, also train the next generation of...

8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. CDTWednesday, August 11, 2021, San Antonio, TX There is no better way to prepare yourself and your company to meet TSCA compliance requirements than by enrolling in a day-long workshop lead by Richard E. Engler, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry at Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) and The Acta Group (Acta) and a 17-year veteran of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Any company that imports, stores, repackages, processes, uses, or disposes of...

Pursuant to Article 16 (10) and (11) of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 (Cosmetics Regulation), the European Commission (EC) is required to submit to the European Parliament and the Council an annual status report on the use of nanomaterials in cosmetic products and to review the Regulation’s provisions concerning nanomaterials. The July 22, 2021, report includes the following main findings: On average, ten new cosmetic products containing nanomaterials are placed on the European Union...