Last month, the Defense Department (DOD) issued a request for information (RFI) seeking input on critical military uses of 11 chemicals currently undergoing Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) risk evaluation. The “ability to identify critical applications earlier in the TSCA Section 6 risk evaluation process will allow [DOD] to investigate the availability of alternatives, inform […]
EPA has preliminarily determined that dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) present an unreasonable risk to human health and the environment in separate draft risk evaluations released on June 5, 2025, under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Both chemicals are primarily used as plasticizers for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), according to EPA. Chemical Data […]
Verdant Law is pleased to announce that Irene Hantman presented at the Air & Waste Management Association’s (A&WMA’s) 118th annual conference and exhibition (ACE) on June 11, 2025, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Ms. Hantman’s “TSCA 2025” presentation covered recent regulatory developments under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Topics included the framework rule for new chemicals, […]
A collection of scientists, academics, and clinicians have called for “extensive revisions” to EPA’s draft risk evaluation for dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP), arguing that the assessment “failed to incorporate the best available science and makes a number of scientifically unsupported assumptions.” The May 9 comments were submitted by the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment […]
On May 13, 2025, EPA issued an interim final rule delaying implementation of the PFAS reporting requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), citing technical difficulties. The submission period is now scheduled to begin on April 13, 2026, instead of July 11, 2025. It will close on October 13, 2026, with an alternate deadline […]
On May 2, 2025, the District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled that California’s Proposition 65 (Prop 65) warning requirement for dietary acrylamide constitutes unconstitutional compelled speech, granting a permanent injunction barring its enforcement in California Chamber of Commerce v. Bonta, No. 2:19-cv-02019. The court acknowledged that the entirety of the warning requirement—which […]
Environmental groups are urging EPA to deny 17 new chemical applications submitted by Motiva Enterprises for production at its refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, arguing that the new chemicals would endanger nearby residents who already experience disproportionately high exposures to pollution. Joint comments on the premanufacture notices (PMNs) were submitted by Community In-Power and Development Association […]
A proposed class action alleging that Apple Watch bands contain PFAS should be dismissed for lack of standing, Apple told the District Court for the Northern District of California on April 14, 2025. The plaintiffs in Cavalier v. Apple, Inc., No. 5:25-cv-713, claim that a published study detected PFHxA (a type of PFAS) and “significantly […]
Allegations that Monsanto’s popular Roundup-brand weedkillers degrade into a carcinogenic impurity will proceed, after the Ninth Circuit reinstated a proposed class action a district court had dismissed for failure to state a claim. Unlike the many personal injury suits over Roundup, the plaintiffs in this case assert purely economic harms. They allege that consumers would […]
The Trump EPA announced in a March 10, 2025 press release that it will reconsider the Biden-era risk evaluation framework rule governing assessments of existing chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). As discussed in a previous blog post, the risk evaluation framework rule replaced regulations promulgated by the first Trump administration. The Biden-era […]
