Yesterday, EPA’s Design for Environment (DfE) program released two reports on flame retardants and their safer alternatives. One report is a draft update of a 2005 Alternatives Assessment on the flame retardant pentabromodiphenyl ether (pentaBDE) in flexible polyurethane foam; the other is a final Alternatives Assessment on Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), a brominated flame retardant used in […]
A week after the release of House Democrats’ proposed revisions to the Chemicals in Commerce Act (CICA), industry groups have responded with criticism and a renewed interest in the Senate’s Chemical Safety Improvement Act (CSIA), the stalled legislation that also aims to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Meanwhile, the attorneys general of ten […]
Democrats on the House Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy have proposed a revised version [PDF] of the Chemicals in Commerce Act (CICA), the bill which Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) first introduced in April to modernize the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). However, spokespeople from both sides of the aisle expressed that continued bipartisan work […]
Following the recent election of India’s new prime minister, Narendra Modi, the country’s burgeoning industry is making the adoption and implementation of the National Chemicals Policy (NCP) a top priority. According to Chemical Watch, analysts and industry members are supportive of Modi and hopeful that the NCP will be adopted by the end of the […]
Yesterday, California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) held the second of three public workshops on its initial Priority Products in Oakland. These workshops are being held to elicit feedback from stakeholders before the start of the formal rulemaking process, which is anticipated to begin in late June. In his introductory presentation, DTSC Branch Chief […]
Last week, the saga of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) conflict minerals disclosure rule took another turn as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied an emergency motion filed by industry groups to stay the rule. The rule, known as Exchange Act Rule 13p-1, was authorized by section […]
Last week, the European Commission (EC) published papers describing its negotiating positions on five topics associated with the current EU-US talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The position papers, released as part of the EC’s efforts at increasing transparency, propose improving the compatibility of rules governing chemicals, cosmetics, motor vehicles, pharmaceuticals, and […]
EPA is a significant partner to companies leading innovation efforts in the arena of safer consumer products, according to Assistant Administrator Jim Jones, of EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. In a blog post yesterday, Jones describes how EPA’s Design for Environment (DfE) program recently participated in a “Supplier Panel on Sustainable Chemistry” […]
The EPA is considering ways to share chemical data with European regulators, including research on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and information submitted for REACH compliance. Chemical Watch reports that Jim Jones, EPA Assistant Administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, will discuss sharing EDC data with regulators in Brussels in late June. […]
In the past week, the National Research Council (NRC) has released two reports on aspects of EPA’s chemical testing and science programs. Today, the NRC published a report reviewing EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) process for assessing chemical hazards and concluding that the agency has made substantial improvements in response to the NRC’s general […]
