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On January 20, 2021, Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe and 12 other health, environment, and justice organizations sent a letter to Bjorn Hansen, Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) “seeking clarifications on both the applicable legal framework and risk management measures in place, for nano/biocidal-treated articles in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic.”  The letter states that “[a]s a result of laboratory tests supposedly showing...

Chemical Watch’s “Global Outlook 2021: Risk assessment and management under TSCA – what should we expect?” includes a conversation between Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) and Terry Hyland, North America Managing Editor, Chemical Watch, regarding what to expect from the Biden Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2021. Excerpts from the article are below. New challenges also lie ahead for the EPA,...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on January 14, 2021, the release of the final risk evaluation for C.I. Pigment Violet 29 (PV29) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), meeting a “major chemical safety milestone.” In the risk evaluation, EPA reviewed 14 conditions of use for PV29, including as an intermediate for other perylene pigments, as well as a component of paints, coatings, industrial carpeting, and plastic and rubber products used...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a webinar on February 3, 2021, “to educate stakeholders on the risk management process under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the findings in the final risk evaluation for Asbestos Part 1:  Chrysotile Asbestos.”  EPA states that the webinar will also give the public an opportunity to provide input on considerations the agency should take into account for managing these unreasonable risks.  Stakeholders who wish to...

Download transcript This week I had my final visit with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Assistant Administrator Alexandra Dunn.  As many of our listeners know, Alex Dunn lead the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and was responsible for implementing the nation’s industrial and agricultural chemical laws, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), respectively.  Alex has...

Registration is now open for the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) February 9, 2021, webinar, “What We Know about NanoEHS:  How It All Began.”  NNI states that its 2021 NanoEHS webinar series will focus on sharing what it now knows about the environmental, health, and safety aspects of engineered nanomaterials (nanoEHS).  According to NNI, throughout the series, “experts will share the big take-home EHS messages with the broader nanotechnology...

On January 8, 2021, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) proposed significant revisions to its Proposition 65 (Prop 65) Article 6 “clear and reasonable warnings” regulations for “short-form” warnings. When OEHHA’s revisions to the warning requirements were issued in 2016 (and in full effect as of August 30, 2018), OEHHA included a short-form warning option as an acceptable alternative to the revised requirements for consumer product exposure...

On January 20, 2021, comments by Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner, Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) were featured in the Bloomberg Environment & Energy Report article "Biden Day 1 Presages ‘Far More Aggressive’ Chemicals Stance." Lynn Bergeson, managing partner of Bergeson and Campbell PC, which specializes in chemical policies, saw the selected TSCA rules and policies as focusing on the entire process EPA has used to examine and regulate chemicals through an...

On January 19, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of a final compliance guide that outlines which imported articles are covered by EPA’s July 2020 final significant new use rule (SNUR) that prohibits companies from manufacturing, importing, processing, or using certain long-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) without prior EPA review and approval.  The final guide is “the official compliance guide for imported...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on January 12, 2021, that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) “that advances collaboration and communication on EPA’s review of new chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).” The goal of the MOU is to improve the combined efforts of the agencies to protect workers who may be exposed to a new chemical substance by providing guidelines for...