On December 4, 2023, comments by Lynn L. Bergeson and Christopher Blunck were featured in Chemical Watch’s article regarding a TSCA section 5(f) orders prohibiting Texas-based Inhance Technologies from producing certain PFAS when fluorinating plastic containers, a move the company said will threaten its “very existence” and affect thousands of downstream businesses. According to Bergeson & Campbell managing partner Lynn Bergeson, the severity of the remedy (cessation of...
December 1, 2023
NREL AI Tool Predicts How to Achieve Polymer Properties with Biomass
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced on November 27, 2023, that a machine learning tool developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with support from BETO, makes it easier for material scientists to “mak[e] polymers more sustainable and higher performing — especially with the reliance on petrochemicals for making plastics.” According to BETO, using artificial intelligence (AI), PolyID: Polymer Inverse Design™ “can...
December 1, 2023
Lynn L. Bergeson, “Reporting PFAS: reporting burden is the least of businesses’ worries,” Financier Worldwide, December 2023.
Ask just about anyone doing business in the US making or importing products that contain chemicals what they think about the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) new per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) reporting rule, and you will get a decidedly grumpy response. Granted, no businessperson welcomes any new chemical reporting obligation, but by any standard, the EPA’s 11 October 2023 final PFAS reporting rule is problematic and is inviting uniquely scathing criticism....
November 30, 2023
Community Outreach and Environmental Justice — A Conversation with Rachel James of the SELC
November 30, 2023
USDA Updates List of Bioengineered Foods
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) published a final rule on November 29, 2023, updating the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard’s (the Standard) List of Bioengineered (BE) Foods (the List) by adding “sugarcane (Bt insect-resistant varieties)” and amending “squash (summer)” to “squash (summer, coat protein-mediated virus-resistant varieties).” 88 Fed. Reg. 83305. AMS states that in updating the List, “this final rule...
November 30, 2023
Lynn L. Bergeson and Richard E. Engler, Ph.D. Quoted in Chemical Watch Article “TSCA risk evaluation for formaldehyde will follow existing procedural rule”
On December 6, 2023, comments by Lynn L. Bergeson and Richard E. Engler, Ph.D. were featured in Chemical Watch’s article on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan to conduct its TSCA risk evaluation of formaldehyde following procedures in its existing risk evaluation ‘framework’ rule, rather than those set out in a recent regulatory proposal. Lynn Bergeson and Richard Engler of law firm Bergeson & Campbell said they were surprised to hear the agency would...
November 29, 2023
NIA Will Hold 2023 Symposium on December 5, 2023
The Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA) will hold its 2023 Symposium on December 5, 2023. Open to the public, the agenda for the Symposium includes: Registration is open. Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. is a proud member of NIA....
November 29, 2023
Ultium Cells LLC and General Motors Company Enter into Consent Agreement with EPA for Alleged TSCA Violations
Under a November 20, 2023, final order of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Appeals Board (EAB), Ultium Cells LLC (Ultium) and General Motors Company (GM) have entered into a consent agreement with EPA concerning alleged violations of Section 5(a)(1) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). According to the consent agreement, the respondents voluntarily disclosed to EPA that three chemical substances were manufactured (imported) “a number of times between...
On November 24, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule that will amend the regulations for decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) and phenol, isopropylated phosphate (3:1) (PIP (3:1)), two of the five persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals addressed in final rules issued under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in January 2021. 88 Fed. Reg. 82287. In the proposed rule, EPA states that after receiving additional comments following the...
On November 20, 2023, the European Commission (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) announced that the EC requested that it carry out a safety assessment on hydroxyapatite (nano) in view of new information provided. As reported in our March 24, 2023, blog item, according to SCCS’s March 2023 final opinion on hydroxyapatite (nano), based on the data provided, SCCS considers hydroxyapatite (nano) safe when used at concentrations up to ten percent in toothpaste, and...