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 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 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 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 Silver Technology Working Group (“SNWG”) of the Silver Research Consortium LLC recently sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) expressing concern about a proposed interpretation issued by the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs (“OPP”) of a nanoscale pesticide products regulation under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (“FIFRA”), 7 U.S.C. § … 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 Earlier today, the Federal Register carried a notice regarding the 4 day consultation meeting of the FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel concerning the assessment of hazard and exposure associated with nanosilver and other nanometals in pesticides, previously announced in the FR for September 16, 2009 and discussed previously here. Today’s announcement notes a change in the time for … 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 Inside U.S. Trade reports three interesting nano-regulatory developments: (i) the "EPA has signaled that it may soon decide to regulate nano-silver as a pesticide under " FIFRA; (ii) the "EPA may rule favorably on some points" raised in the 2008 citizen’s petition filed by 14 advocacy groups seeking more restrictive regulation of nanoscale silver; and … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on An article by Barnaby Feder in this morning’s New York Times reminds us of a question that, even a year later, has not been completely resolved. Astute readers (and by "astute" I mean everyone who wasn’t under a rock) will remember the large discussion over the use of nanosilver as an anti-bacterial device, including the … Continue Reading
