Memoranda

Following the release last week of our Firm Clients and Friends Memorandum “Summary of Changes in the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (CSIA, S. 1009) and the Boxer TSCA Version Released September 18, 2014,” Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) received copies of a number of documents relating to what is now described as the “Udall-Vitter Discussion Draft” (U-V DD) of the original CSIA (CSIA1). The documents obtained include: This Memorandum briefly summarizes these...

This analysis reviews the changes made to the original version of the Chemical Safety Improvement Act (CSIA) (identified as CSIA1 in this memorandum) based on Senator Barbara Boxer’s (D-CA) version of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) reform legislation released on September 18, 2014 (Boxer TSCA). This analysis attempts to analyze both the interim changes made to the bill and the changes that appear as underlined text in Boxer TSCA. Boxer TSCA was reportedly created...

Spray drift and volatilization issues increasingly are significant issues in pesticide product risk assessments. Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued drafts of key guidance documents, which focused on issues that were key in the chlorpyrifos petition response, and more recently, at least one registration review decision that reflects current and still evolving EPA policy on spray drift and volatilization issues. How potential for spray drift and for...

On September 12, 2014, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) released its much anticipated draft Initial Priority Product Work Plan under the Safer Consumer Products Regulations. The Regulations require that DTSC, by October 2014, develop an Initial Priority Product Work Plan that describes product categories it will use to evaluate and identify product-chemical combinations to be added to the Priority Products. The Work Plan is available online and more detailed...

On August 9, 2014, the Government of Canada published in Gazette I (Vol. 148, no. 32) a proposal for adopting the Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). The regulatory proposal seeks to align current systems for classification, material safety data sheets (MSDS), and labels with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Hazard Communications Standard published on May 26, 2012 (HCS 2012) and the approaches used in other...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released on August 28, 2014, final risk assessments for three Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Work Plan chemicals — methylene chloride or dichloromethane (DCM), antimony trioxide (ATO), and 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8,-hexamethylcyclopenta-[γ]-2-benzopyran (HHCB). The much anticipated release of these assessments marks a real milestone for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), and EPA is to be...

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) recently released 25 decisions on data sharing disputes under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) program and two decisions on data sharing disputes under the Biocides Product Regulation (BPR). Compensation for data sharing is to be determined under REACH and BPR by the same standard, that is, in a “fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner,” and as such there are similar issues in the ECHA...

In a wide-ranging decision issued on August 13, 2014, in Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA (N.D. Cal.) (often referred to as the “Mega ESA” case), Magistrate Judge Spero has dismissed most of the claims by the Plaintiffs that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to consult or to reinitiate consultation under Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7(a)(2) in connection with EPA’s registration under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide...

On July 7, 2014, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a petition requesting that EPA commence a Special Review for the neonicotinoid pesticides, including six specific active ingredients (dinotefuran, acetamiprid, clothianidin, thiacloprid, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam), based on the risk that NRDC believes this class of compounds poses to honey bees and native bees. In the petition, NRDC alleges that neonicotinoids “may...

On June 20, 2014, President Obama issued a Presidential memorandum entitled “Creating a Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators.” The memorandum creates a Pollinator Health Task Force, which will be co-chaired by the U.S. Department Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Task Force will develop a National Pollinator Health Strategy, which includes a Pollinator Research Action Plan, Public Education Plan, and...