Memoranda

On March 13, 2019, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change held a hearing on “Mismanaging Chemical Risks:  EPA’s Failure to Protect Workers.”  The hearing examined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) assessment and management of risks to workers from toxic chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and other laws.  The Subcommittee focused on EPA’s implementation of the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for...

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released on March 6, 2019, a report entitled High-Risk Series: Substantial Efforts Needed to Achieve Greater Progress on High-Risk Areas. GAO’s high-risk program identifies government operations with vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or in need of transformation to address economy, efficiency, or effectiveness challenges. GAO’s report describes the status of high-risk areas and outlines actions necessary to assure...

On March 4, 2019, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report titled Chemical Assessments:  Status of EPA’s Efforts to Produce Assessments and Implement the Toxic Substances Control Act.  The report describes the extent to which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program has addressed identified challenges and made progress toward producing chemical assessments; and assesses whether EPA has...

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) routinely reviews and amends the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) to harmonize the HMR with international regulations and standards.  In February 2019, PHMSA’s Office of Hazardous Materials Safety (OHMS) contracted with the Cambridge Systematics (CS) Team to conduct a risk assessment for the transportation of aerosol containers to align U.S. and international regulations. ...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is scheduled to publish a proposed rule in the Federal Register on February 26, 2019, that would put into effect a final monograph for nonprescription, over-the-counter (OTC) sunscreen drug products. The proposed rule describes the conditions under which FDA proposes that OTC sunscreen monograph products are generally recognized as safe and effective (GRASE) and not misbranded. According to FDA’s February 21, 2019, press...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released on February 19, 2019, an update of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Inventory (TSCA Inventory), which lists chemicals that are “active” versus “inactive” in commerce in the U.S.  EPA’s News Release states that a “key result of the update is that less than half of the total number of chemicals on the current TSCA Inventory (47 percent or 40,655 of the 86,228 chemicals) are currently in commerce.”...

The European Commission (EC) began a public consultation on February 11, 2019, on the evaluation of food contact materials (FCM).  The purpose of the evaluation is to assess whether the current European Union (EU) legislative framework for FCMs is fit for purpose and delivers as expected.  The evaluation covers the functioning of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 (Regulation) in its entirety and the rules and tools provided for by the legislation, such as specific implementing...

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published a Federal Register notice on February 11, 2019, announcing that it will hold a public hearing to receive information from interested parties about possible changes to www.SaferProducts.gov, CPSC’s Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety Information Database, to improve the website’s usefulness and ease of use. 84 Fed. Reg. 3134. CPSC also requests written comments on possible improvements. The public hearing will...

On January 21, 2019, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D) announced as part of his Executive Budget a proposal intended to protect New Yorkers from unknown exposure to toxic chemicals.  According to Governor Cuomo’s press release, the Consumer Right to Know Act would authorize the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), in consultation with the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and the New York State Department of State (NYSDOS), to develop...

On January 28, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its Year in Review: 2018 (YIR). The YIR lists the following accomplishments: The YIR provides the following “by the numbers” summary: Water As reported in our December 11, 2018, memorandum, “EPA Releases ‘Waters of the U.S.’ (WOTUS) Replacement Rule Proposal,” on December 11, 2018, EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced EPA’s and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) release of...