On April 8, James V. Aidala participated in a session entitled "Incentives Needed to Register Public Health Pesticides," and Lynn L. Bergeson participated in a session entitled "The Future of Nanotechnology." Click here for more information.
April 7, 2011
James V. Aidala, “Tracking Disease Clusters and Environmental Health,” Law360, April 7, 2011.
On March 29, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing entitled “Oversight Hearing on Disease Clusters and Environmental Health.” Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Senator Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, ranking member of the Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health Subcommittee, introduced the Strengthening Protections for Children and Communities from Disease Clusters Act (S. 76), also known as Trevor’s Law, on Jan. 25, 2011.
April 6, 2011
Green Ribbon Science Panel Subcommittees to Discuss Safer Consumer Product Alternatives Regulations
Three Subcommittees of the Green Ribbon Science Panel (Panel) have scheduled several teleconferences between April 4 and April 19, 2011, to discuss potential revisions to the California Department of Toxic Substances Control's (DTSC) Safer Consumer Product Alternatives (SCPA) regulations. These teleconferences are open to the public and comments may be provided. The three Subcommittees and the scheduled teleconferences are as follows: Chemical Identification and Prioritization...
Lynn L. Bergeson spoke on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and nanotechnology. Details.
On April 1, 2011, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced the availability of an update to the Guidance on Requirements for Substances in Articles. The update replaces the previous Guidance. Beginning June 1, 2011, companies must notify to ECHA substances present in articles they produce or import that were included on the substances of very high concern (SVHC) Candidate List before December 1, 2010, if both of the following conditions are met: The SVHC is present in those...
April 4, 2011
Lynn L. Bergeson, “RoHS Recast: How Did Nanomaterials Fare?,” Nanotechnology Law & Business, Volume 7, Issue 4.
Several types of nanoscale materials recently dodged a bullet as the European Parliament declined to ban nanosilver and long multi-walled carbon nanotubes in the European Union’s Directive on the Restriction and Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment, (more commonly known as “RoHS”). For reasons not entirely clear, detractors of these nanoscale materials tried, and failed, to ban them outright in the RoHS Recast initiative. For nano stakeholders, while...
TSCA/FIFRA/NTP/EPCRA The following item is of major importance to many of our clients and friends. We will issue a more detailed analysis of the legislation early next week. Lautenberg Introduces Safe Chemicals Act Of 2011: On April 14, 2011, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, which is intended to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to require chemical companies to demonstrate the safety of industrial chemicals and the U.S....
A March 11, 2011, memorandum from the White House Emerging Technologies Interagency Policy Coordination Committee (ETIPC) sets forth the Obama Administration's principles for regulation and oversight of emerging technologies, including nanotechnology. One might wonder why a memorandum was thought necessary, and indeed, according to some U.S. trade press reports, the memorandum reportedly was not especially welcome news in some NGO camps. According to these reports, the memorandum reflects...
April 1, 2011
Lynn L. Bergeson and Chris R. Bryant, “EPA Issues Final Rules for Boilers,” Chemical Processing, April 2011.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that more than 200,000 boilers, process heaters and incinerators will be impacted by a set of Clean Air Act regulations issued on February 21, 2011. Since EPA first proposed the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) rules in April 2010, several industry sectors have argued the costs of implementing the rules would pose an unreasonable burden on businesses. In response to this criticism, EPA revised the rules in a manner that it...