By Porter Wright on The task of the Inspectors General of Federal agencies is to examine "all actions of a government agency or military organization. Conducting audits and investigations, either independently or in response to reports of wrongdoing, the OIG ensures that the agency’s operations are in compliance with the law and general established policies of the government. Audits … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Wednesday’s Federal Register carried a notice from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) extending the comment period for proposed methods of collecting information regarding the use of nanoscale materials in pesticides published in the Federal Register of June 17, 2011. The original deadline for submitting comments was July 18, 2011. The deadline for submission has been extended … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On June 17, 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing that it was seeking "comment on several possible appraoches for obtaining information about what nanoscale materials are present in registered pesticide products. . . . and its potential effects on humans or the environment. . . ." Under … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Here is an advance copy of a new multi-walled carbon nanotube significant new use rule being published tomorrow in the federal register. It applies only to the specific carbon nanotubes that were the subject of PMN P-08-199, and binds anyone who intends to manufacture, import, or process the specific chemical substance. It is largely consistent … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The NanoSafety Consortium for Carbon just submitted a proposed toxicity testing agreement to EPA under Section 4 of the Toxic Substances Control Act covering a range of nanoscale materials including multi-walled carbon nanotubes, double-walled carbon nanotubes, single-walled carbon nanotubes, and graphene. Key elements for the curious: The chemical substances to be tested … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On February 17 2011, the EPA, in conjunction with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the UK’s Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC), announced the awarding of $12 million ($5.5 million from the EPA, $500,000 from CPSC, and $6 million from NERC) to three consortia to fund research aimed at providing a greater understanding of potential … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on This article originally appeared on the National Nanomanufacturing Network’s InterNano website. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. In its ongoing efforts to guard against potential unintended environmental, health, or safety injuries related to possible exposure to certain nanoscale materials, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to issue three new proposed nano-specific … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In the Federal Register for Friday 09/17/2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), acting under the authority granted to it under section 5(a)(2) of the TSCA, issued as a final rule Significant New Use Rules (SNURS) affecting two chemical substances identified as generic multi-walled and single-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs and SWCNTs respectively). These SNURs are applicable … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In the Federal Register issue of 08/13/2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released for public comment a proposed rule that would, if adopted, significantly change the TSCA Inventory Update Reporting (IUR). The first part of the notice, "Supplementary Information", explains the proposed changes to 40 CFR Parts 704, 710, and 711. The text of the proposed rule … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The EPA recently released a draft of its "Nanomaterial Case Study: Nanoscale Silver in Disinfectant Spray" which you can download here. The document is 323 pages long and has 6 chapters: (i) Introduction; (ii) Introduction to Silver and Nanoscale Silver; (iii) Life-Cycle Stages; (iv) Fate and Transport in Environmental Media; (v) Exposure, Uptake, and Dose; … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Inside Washington’s Inside the EPA newsletter carries an article regarding the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention submitting for review a notice outlining EPA’s intention to use its existing regulatory authority under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to require that manufacturers of pesticides provide more information to EPA about their use of … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In a notice published in the Federal register on July 28, 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it was adding new information to its public docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2009-0686 and was reopening the comment period for a proposed Significant New Use Rule (SNUR) for multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTS) first published in the Federal Register on February 3, … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Friday, the United States Government Accountability Office issued its Report to the Chairman (Barbara Boxer) of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, US Senate, GAO-10-549: Nanotechnology: Nanomaterials Are Widely used in Commerce, but EPA Faces Challenges in Regulating Risk. Highlights from the report follow. The report confirms speculation that EPA intends to issue certain new … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The NanoSafety Consortium for Carbon has recently posted a bibliography of in vivo tox studies on its website. The bibliography is (obviously) a work in progress. We would greatly appreciate it if our readers would bring to our attention any pertinent articles that are not already on the bibliography. The articles will be used to inform … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Inside EPA reports today that a "senior policy adviser for EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs, said EPA would issue in June a long-awaited response to a 2008 activist petition asking the agency to regulate nanoscale silver under FIFRA." The article also mentions that EPA intends to define nanoscale ingredients for FIFRA purposes as "an ingredient … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Last September we predicted that sometime in 2010 EPA would reverse its "distinct molecular identity" approach to determining when and whether nanoscale materials are considered New Chemical Substances requiring premanufacturing notice and approval under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). We have been advising clients accordingly. Inside EPA is now reporting that "EPA toxics chief … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on This article was written by John C. Monica, Jr. and Dr. Diana Bowman and originally appeared on the National Nanomanufacturing Network’s InterNano website earlier today. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. Dr. Bowman is a Senior Research Fellow in the School for Population Health at the University of Melbourne and a Visiting … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on This article was contributed by Dr. Rosalinda Volpe, Executive Director, Silver Nanotechnology Working Group (SNWG) and originally appeared on the National Nanomanufacturing Network’s InterNano website earlier today. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. On November 3 – 6, 2009 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) meeting … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on New Edition of Nanotechnology Law Report Inside you will find: EPA Considering New Approach to Nanoscale Materials Under TSCA EPA May Issue Mandatory Data Collection Rule for Nanoscale Materials Under TSCA EPA Takes Aim at Antimicrobial Products Under FIFRA EPA Unveils New Principles for Chemical Management Reform EPA Report on the Use of Nanoscale TiO2 … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Nanotechnology Law & Business just published our new article on the EPA’s recent treatment of nanoscale materials under the Toxic Substances Control Act. An abstract for the article is below and you can find a copy of the article itself here. Abstract: This article provides a summary of recent (2008-2009) regulatory efforts by the U.S. … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In this article, we note a couple of recent EPA enforcement actions against manufacturers allegedly making unsubstantiated antimicrobial claims for their products – much like occurred in the IOGEAR computer keyboard/mice episode in 2008. Although these products do not purport to use nanoscale materials, the alleged claims for these products are similar to those made by … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on A much valued contributor from CyberRegs provided us with the following information from the Federal Register that may be of interest to readers: There will be a 4-day consultation meeting of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (FIFRA SAP) to consider and review a set of scientific issues related to the assessment … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Eight months after EPA’s interim report on industry participation (or lack thereof) in its Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program, EPA’s Toxic Substances Control Act’s ("TSCA") Interagency Testing Committee ("ITC") published a report in today’s Federal Register mentioning that EPA intends to issue a new mandatory data collection rule for nanoscale materials under TSCA Section 8(a): "EPA intends to develop … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Last Friday, EPA’s Office of Research and Development announced in the Federal Register a 45 day comment period for its new draft case study on the use of nanoscale TiO2 in water and sunscreens: "Nanomaterial Case Studies: Nanoscale Titanium Dioxide in Water Treatment and in Topical Sunscreen" FR 74,146 at 38188 (July 31, 2009). The report … Continue Reading
