On September 18, 2013, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy held its third in a series of hearings on Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) issues. The hearing focused on TSCA’s section 6, which relates to unreasonable risk from existing chemical substances, and section 18, which relates to preemption. Section 6 […]
As October begins, California’s long-awaited Safer Consumer Products (SCP) program is finally launching as the first step in carrying out the state’s Green Chemistry Initiative. The regulations implementing the program go into effect today, October 1, 2013. The state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) will administer the SCP program, which identifies potentially harmful products […]
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, announced on Thursday a new initiative to eliminate certain chemicals of concern in cosmetics and household products. The company will also expand ingredient disclosure and begin to label its own brand of cleaning products using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Design for Environment (DfE) guidelines. Under its “Policy on Sustainable […]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched ChemView, a web portal that will serve as a hub for chemical-specific regulatory information developed by EPA, as well as data collected under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The portal presents key health and safety data in a format that allows users to compare chemicals by […]
The Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR; Regulation (EU) 528/2012), which repeals and replaces the Biocidal Products Directive (BPD, 98/8/EC), entered into force on September 1, 2013. The BPR retains the legal framework established by the BPD, including the two-tier approval system for biocidal substances, but also introduces a number of new provisions, such as those relating […]
California’s Safer Consumer Products final regulations were generally approved by the Office of Administrative Law (“OAL”) and filed with the Secretary of State on August 28. As we have previously discussed, the Safer Consumer Products program establishes a statewide system that implements a key element of the California Green Chemistry Initiative: accelerating the use of […]
Last month, we reported that the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works had scheduled a full-committee hearing on various legislative proposals to reform TSCA. The hearing on July 31 consisted of three panels with a total of 19 witnesses including public health advocates, legal and health experts, representatives from state government and the […]
This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added more than 130 chemicals to its Safer Chemical Ingredients List, which contains chemicals that meet the criteria of EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) Safer Product Labeling Program. For the first time, 119 fragrance chemicals for commercial and consumer cleaning products have also been added to […]
Since its introduction in late May, the bipartisan Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013 (“CSIA,” S. 1009) has already had an eventful history which looks like it will get even more interesting next week when the Senate Environment and Public Works (“EPW”) Committee holds a day-long hearing on reforming federal chemical law. The hearing, scheduled […]
On July 30, 2013, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) will hold a public pre-regulatory workshop in order to gather input from interested parties on potential rulemaking to modify Proposition 65 warnings. If formally proposed and adopted, the regulation would either supplement or replace existing OEHHA regulations governing Proposition 65 warnings and conform […]
