The latest front in the ever-expanding Proposition 65 enforcement battle: plastic packaging. Since the start of the year, dozens of notices of violation have been filed, not for actual products, but for the packaging in...more
With the release last month of proposed new EPA regulations on how the agency intends to handle responses to requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), critics have raised concerns about provisions that would give...more
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) announced last week that it will not begin enforcement of the Household Cleansing Product Information Disclosure Program until January 2, 2020. Previously, NYDEC...more
Coffee drinkers of the world rejoice! California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has signed off on a proposed rule that exempts coffee from the need to bear a cancer warning under Proposition 65 with every cup sold....more
The California Assembly passed a bill (AB 1123) earlier this month that would require litigants in private Proposition 65 enforcement actions to notify the state Attorney General (AG) of any appeals in such cases. Current...more
California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has issued an important clarification of the scope of last year’s listing of “soluble” nickel compounds as reproductive toxins under Proposition 65....more
In 2017, at the direction of a provision in the 2016 Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which fundamentally reformed the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA convened a group of stakeholders...more
The U.S. EPA announced proposed amendments to the Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule with an aim “to better support Agency data collection efforts, align reporting with the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st...more
Earlier today, US EPA released the inaugural draft list of 20 “high priority” and 20 “low priority” chemicals for risk evaluation purposes as required by the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). ...more
The anticipated issuance of a final Proposition 65 exemption for chemicals, such as acrylamide, “created by and inherent in the processes of roasting coffee beans or brewing coffee,” has been delayed to allow for an...more
Consistent with consumer trends and the ever-increasing role of internet sales, U.S. EPA is targeting on-line pesticide sales as an enforcement priority. ...more
EPA has released the updated TSCA Chemical Substance Inventory, with, for the first time, “active” and “inactive” designations as required by the 2016 Amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Of the 86,228...more
Newly proposed legislation in New York, announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo during the release of his Executive Budget late last month, would look an awful lot like California’s “Proposition 65” program … but, presumably, with...more
During confirmation hearings before Congress last week, Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler indicated that a long-awaited EPA rule to restrict consumer and commercial uses of methylene chloride as a paint and coating...more
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), which oversees the state’s Proposition 65 program, is on the verge of finalizing an exemption from warning requirements for chemicals, such as...more
Proposition 65 plaintiff groups are starting 2019 with a practically unprecedented bounty of enforcement actions underway. According to information available from the California Attorney General’s Prop 65 website, almost...more
Environmental groups have filed a Notice of Intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its still draft decision not to establish a program to address potential spills of hazardous substances similar to...more
At the direction of the California Legislature, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is conducting a risk assessment of the potential adverse health impacts of synthetic food dyes on children, with a...more
Only a few months after new provisions went into effect (on August 30th), California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is proposing to clarify the rules governing retailer and supply chain...more
With the biggest sales day of the year shortly upon us, a new wave of on-line shopping Americans likely will see Proposition 65 warning notices for the first time. Though California’s notorious program technically only...more
California has added a new chemical to the list of substances known to the state to cause reproductive toxicity under Proposition 65, though the listing is not as broad as originally proposed. While the Office of...more
With Democrats now in control of the House, Congressional oversight of EPA’s implementation of the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) is set to ramp up. The expected incoming chair of the House Energy...more
Recent events have raised questions about the viability and utility of California’s infamous Proposition 65. The past few months have seen courts reject the listing of glyphosate as a “known” carcinogen on First Amendment...more
By November 2021, the European Union (EU) is requiring that clothing, accessories, footwear and other textiles (such as furniture upholstery and bed linens) be essentially free of 33 “CMR” substances, including lead, cadmium,...more
Reminder that Friday is the deadline for chemical “processors” to file notifications with EPA to ensure that the chemicals they use are designated as “active” substances on the TSCA Inventory. ...more