October 1, 2024

An Update on the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, September 18, 2024, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (EDT), via webinar

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) affiliate The Acta Group (Acta®) was pleased to present “An Update on the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability,” a complimentary webinar that reviews and updates how the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability is fundamentally reshaping the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and the Classification, Labeling, and Packaging (CLP) regulations in ways that are resetting the global stage for the regulation of...
September 30, 2024

APHIS Announces Updated Permitting Resources for Developers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) announced on September 12, 2024, the availability of the following updated resources to help developers more efficiently prepare and submit APHIS BRS permit applications: Permit User Guide -- Implements stakeholder feedback to clarify information requirements and how BRS uses the information when reviewing permit applications, provides tips on efficiently...
September 30, 2024

Court Finds Typical Levels of Drinking Water Fluoridation Present an Unreasonable Risk to Health, Directs EPA to Take Regulatory Action

After the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied a 2016 petition filed under Section 21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requesting that EPA consider whether fluoride in drinking water presents an unreasonable risk of injury to human health, a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGO) promptly filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Food & Water Watch v. EPA (No. 3:17-cv-02162-EMC). After a bench trial in 2020, the court...
September 27, 2024

EPA Announces 2024 Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award Winners

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the 2024 Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winners on September 24, 2024. EPA recognized the 43 award winners for their achievements in the design, manufacture, promotion, selection, and use of cleaners, detergents, and other products with safer chemicals. EPA notes the following achievements among the winners: Improving Access to Products with Safer Ingredients: Many Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winners showed leadership in...
September 27, 2024

Final NIOSH Science Post in Series Celebrating NTRC Focuses on Measuring Nanomaterials

On September 25, 2024, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) posted a NIOSH Science Blog item entitled “Celebrating 20 Years of the Nanotechnology Research Center: Measuring the Small Things,” the final installment of the blog series commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC). According to the item, when NTRC was created in 2004, one of its biggest challenges was understanding exactly what to measure and how to measure it....
September 27, 2024

Product Stewardship Society Names Lynn L. Bergeson as Recipient of the 2024 Allan K. Fleeger Distinguished Service Award

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) is pleased to announce that Lynn L. Bergeson, Managing Partner of B&C and President of The Acta Group (Acta®), is recipient of the 2024 Allan K. Fleeger Distinguished Service Award from the Product Stewardship Society® (PSS). PSS established the award in 2018 to recognize extraordinary contributions by a product steward to the growth and success of PSS and the product stewardship profession. Ms. Bergeson served as a Member of the PSS Board of...
September 26, 2024

California Sues ExxonMobil, Claiming It Deceives the Public on Recyclability of Plastic Products

On September 22, 2024, the State of California Department of Justice announced that it filed a lawsuit in the San Francisco County Superior Court against ExxonMobil “for allegedly engaging in a decades-long campaign of deception that caused and exacerbated the global plastics pollution crisis.” California “seeks to compel ExxonMobil, which promotes and produces the largest amount of polymers -- essentially the building blocks used to make single-use plastic -- that become plastic waste in...
September 26, 2024

EPA Releases Draft Risk Evaluation for DINP for Public Comment

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on September 3, 2024, the release of the draft risk evaluation for diisononyl phthalate (DINP) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for public comment. 89 Fed. Reg. 71270. EPA states in its August 30, 2024, press release that it preliminarily determined that two industrial uses and one consumer use “significantly contribute to the unreasonable risk of DINP out of the 45 uses evaluated.” EPA preliminarily determined that DINP...
September 26, 2024

TSCA Reform: Eight Years Later — Panel 3: New Chemical Review

On June 26, 2024, 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 — Eight Years Later. The quality of the discussion, the caliber of the participants, and the timeliness of the content motivated us to repurpose the substantive sessions. B&C and ELI are pleased to co-sponsor this episode of All Things Chemical® to enable our podcast audience to listen to...
September 24, 2024

EPA Moves for Voluntary Remand, Seeks to Reconsider PMNs in Cherokee Concerned Citizens

On September 20, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for a voluntary remand of the case brought by Cherokee Concerned Citizens or review of an Order for a New Chemical Substance under Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Cherokee Concerned Citizens v. EPA (No. 23-1096). EPA states that it wishes to withdraw the Order and reconsider the 18 premanufacture notices (PMN) covered by the...