All Knowledge & Insights By Date

Microplastics are, in recent years, at the forefront of regulatory and policy driven conversations across the United States. Regulatory measures to address microplastics at both state and federal levels have been introduced with increasing frequency. This trend holds true in 2025, which has already seen a significant quantity of legislative, regulatory, and policy proposals and actions in the microplastics sphere. Ongoing interest in microplastics and regulations suggests continued increases in...

On August 25, 2025, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) held a pre-rulemaking stakeholder meeting on its implementation of New York’s per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in apparel law. Section 37-0121 of the Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) prohibits the sale of apparel containing PFAS as intentionally added chemicals beginning January 1, 2025. No later than January 1, 2027, Section 37-0121 prohibits the sale of apparel containing PFAS at or above...

According to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) website, on August 29, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) submitted a proposed rule entitled “Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Data Reporting and Recordkeeping under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Revision to Regulation” to OMB for review. Because the proposed rule has not been published in a Unified Agenda, no summary is available. When EPA postponed the reporting period from July 11,...

The European Commission (EC) has published a report summarizing comments received during the public consultation for the initiative “Towards a circular, regenerative and competitive bioeconomy.” As reported in our April 1, 2025, blog item, according to the EC, the European Union (EU) Bioeconomy Strategy “marks a significant step forward in harnessing the opportunities of the bioeconomy to support European businesses and drive progress towards the EU’s environmental, climate and...

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced on August 20, 2025, that it published an updated proposal to restrict per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under the European Union’s (EU) Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation. The authorities from Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden (Dossier Submitters) submitted the initial proposal in January 2023 and have now completed their evaluation of more than 5,600 scientific and...

On August 13, 2025, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) announced that it petitioned the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the food chain. PEER notes that its petition highlights three human exposure pathways it asks the MAHA Commission to address: Biosolid fertilizers made from sewage sludge contain high levels of PFAS. According to PEER, nearly 20 percent of U.S. agricultural land is estimated to use...

On July 23, 2025, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) announced the release of the Plan of Priorities, a multi-year plan that outlines upcoming priorities for the assessment of chemical substances. The Plan includes a list of more than 30 substances and substance groups prioritized for assessment and includes new or expanded activities to help assess, control, and manage risks posed by substances. ECCC states that in selecting and prioritizing these substances, considerations included:...

The Make America Healthy Again Commission (MAHA) draft report, released on May 22, 2025, was a spectacular mix of damning claims and interesting “facts.” They all relate to the horrific state of the American diet, manipulation by vested interests controlling Congress, co-opted food safety and drug approval regulatory agencies, with a literally sick population of children addicted to ultra-processed food, electronic screens, and drugs pushed by the medical establishment. The root cause of...

The National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) announced on August 7, 2025, an investment of nearly $32 million to five teams across the United States through the NSF Use-Inspired Acceleration of Protein Design (NSF USPRD) initiative. NSF states that the initiative “aims to accelerate the translation of artificial intelligence [(AI)]-based approaches to protein design and enable new applications of importance to the U.S. bioeconomy.” NSF...

On June 25, 2025, B&C, along with the Environmental Law Institute and the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health, sponsored the all-day virtual conference, TSCA Reform — Nine Years Later. The conference was hugely successful and almost 1,000 people registered for it. The quality of the discussion, the caliber of the participants, and the timeliness of the content motivated us to repurpose the substantive sessions to enable our podcast audience to listen to the...