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The European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced on March 19, 2021, that it is looking for topic suggestions that could be addressed in its upcoming studies.  According to EUON, up to three studies are conducted annually to address knowledge gaps on nanomaterials that are of interest to the general public and the research community.  EUON states that it seeks studies that address: Questions relating to the health and safety of nanomaterials, including...

On March 3, 2021, the Farmworker Association of Florida, Environmental Working Group, and Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) order registering the use of the pesticide aldicarb on oranges and grapefruit in Florida as set forth in: EPA’s January 12, 2021, “Registration Decision for the Uses on Oranges and Grapefruit in Florida, Aldicarb”;...

The House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight held a hearing on March 17, 2021, on “Brain Drain:  Rebuilding the Federal Scientific Workforce.”  The Subcommittee heard from the following witnesses: Ms. Candice Wright, Acting Director, Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics, U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO);  Mr. Max Stier, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Partnership for Public Service;  Dr. Andrew...

On March 3, 2021, the Farmworker Association of Florida, Environmental Working Group, and Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) order registering the use of the pesticide aldicarb on oranges and grapefruit in Florida as set forth in: EPA’s January 12, 2021, “Registration Decision for the Uses on Oranges and Grapefruit in Florida, Aldicarb”;...

This week, I sat down with Dr. Jane Vergnes, Director of Toxicology and Vice President, Scientific Affairs, here at B&C and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group (Acta®), and Dr. Richard Engler, Director of Chemistry, at B&C and Acta.  We discussed the provocative question “is everything carcinogenic?”  In asking this question, Jane and Rich discuss the marketing and labeling implications of a cancer classification for a chemical substance found as an...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on March 15, 2021, a settlement requiring Western Reserve Chemical Corp. (WRCC) in Stow, Ohio, to pay a $357,000 civil penalty for violations of chemical data reporting regulations under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  EPA claims that from 2012 to 2015, WRCC failed to submit data reports for 18 chemical substances as required by TSCA.  According to EPA, WRCC imports various chemicals for businesses that formulate rubber,...

Gov4Nano is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to design an effective risk governance process for nanotechnologies, including improving the availability of nano-relevant data.  To meet its aims, Gov4Nano is conducting a “Data Sharing and FAIR Data Use Survey” to obtain views and opinions from data users and producers on data availability and sharing and how these can be improved.  Gov4Nano seeks to determine how barriers to data availability can be lowered and incentives for data...

As reported in our March 9, 2021, blog item, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on March 8, 2021, that “in accordance with Biden-Harris Administration executive orders and directives,” it is asking for additional public input on five final rules for persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBT) chemicals issued on January 6, 2021, under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  On March 16, 2021, EPA announced that comments on the final rules are...

Lawyers counselling companies in the biotechnology, biopesticide and related crop protection and industrial biotechnology areas appreciate the critically important role federal agencies play in ensuring the success of start-up businesses. Federal agencies, including the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), among others, wield enormous power over businesses that require premarket product approval. While we product approval practitioners know...

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) announced on March 15, 2021, that it has begun a public consultation on a draft updated Guidance on the assessment of exposure of operators, workers, residents, and bystanders in risk assessment for plant protection products (PPP).  According to EFSA, the Guidance is designed to assist risk assessors and applicants when quantifying potential non-dietary, systemic exposures as part of the regulatory risk assessment for PPPs.  The Guidance is based on...