From the EPA’s High Production Volume (HPV) Challenge Program:

The US, Canada, and Mexico will work together to ensure the safe manufacture and use of industrial chemicals. The partnership will be built on EPA’s ongoing efforts to study and characterize the risks of chemicals that are produced in high volumes. The US is committing to complete, by 2012, risk characterizations and initiate needed actions on more than 9,000 chemicals produced above 25,000 pounds per year in the country.

The EPA provides a number of links, including:

• Joint Statement from the North American Leaders’ Summit (PDF)
• EPA’s press release on the U.S.-Canada-Mexico partnership
• Partnership framework document

Thank you to reader Mark G. for the link.

We suspect this will be of interest to our clients in the EU:

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has launched a 12 week consultation on the proposed European Regulation on the classification, labelling and packaging of chemicals, based on the United Nation’s Globally Harmonised System (GHS).

The Regulation, which is currently being negotiated by European Union Member States, will eventually replace the existing classification and labelling system that many chemical suppliers will know through the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations – known as CHIP.

The consultation invites stakeholders to review the proposed Regulation and respond to the HSC with any comments, which will be taken into consideration once detailed negotiations with European Member States begin in mid-September.

See the full release here: Health and Safety Commission (HSC) launches consultation on a new chemical classification and labelling regulation.

In Feds to review legislation on importing goods the Canadian Press indicates that the Canadian government is considering changes to the Hazardous Products Act:

Health Minister Tony Clement says the Canadian government is putting together a plan to deal with counterfeit and dangerous imported products.

Clement told a meeting of the Canadian Medical Association on Monday that recent concerns about lead in toys from China and bacteria in toothpaste from South Africa pose major safety concerns. Clement said parents have the right to know their children’s health won’t be compromised because of dangerous products that Canada imports.

He later told reporters the government will review gaps in legislation, standards and regulations when it comes to foreign goods – including food – coming into Canada.

“What I’ve said to my reviewers is that this cannot languish on for months, that it really has to be a full-scale review, that it really has to come to a conclusion, knowing full well that there’s a fall sitting of Parliament,” Clement said.

The minister said the Hazardous Products Act has not been amended in at least 10 years but meanwhile, the amount of foreign products being manufactured by some countries has doubled and tripled in recent years.

We’ll be following potential changes to the HPA very closely.

The Ledbury Reporter is the latest to get on the “REACH will be expensive” bandwagon:

UNCERTAINTY and confusion about new regulations about the use of chemicals is causing major problems for businesses, according to the Chamber of Commerce Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

The regulations come from a European directive known as REACH (regulation, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals).

They have been designed to eliminate multiple sets of regulation and control and be replaced with one unified structure.

The aim is to ensure that substances are used in ways that are understood while the impact on people and on the environment is controlled, and to ensure that where possible, substitutes are found for particularly dangerous substances.

See the full article here: New chemical law hits firms.

Might Bisphenol A (BPA) be reviewed under California’s Prop 65? The L.A. Times suggests that this may happen:

A federal panel of scientists concluded Wednesday that an estrogen-like compound in plastic could be posing some risk to the brain development of babies and children.

Bisphenol A, or BPA, is found in low levels in virtually every human body. A component of polycarbonate plastic, it can leach from baby bottles and other hard plastic beverage containers, food can linings and other consumer products…

Their recommendations will go to the National Toxicology Program, the federal scientists who help regulators mold policy about toxic substances. Officials there will send their report out for review by other scientists before deciding whether to declare BPA toxic to humans. Bucher said he would also update it with the consensus statement and studies published last week.

The final report could trigger a review of BPA by California officials under Proposition 65, which requires warnings on consumer products that pose a risk of cancer or reproductive harm.

See the full article here: Some risk linked to plastic chemical.

From the Landscape Management website:

Following its recent decision to reregister 2,4 dichloro-phenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday announced its decision not to initiate a Special Review of 2,4-D, one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States and around the world, according to a news release received Aug. 9 from the Industry Task Force II on 2,4-D Data.

EPA’s decision states: “Because the Agency has determined that the existing data do not support a conclusion that links human cancer to 2,4-D exposure, it has decided not to initiate a Special Review of 2,4-D, 2,4-DB and 2,4-DP.”

Full article here: EPA says no Special Review of 2,4-D needed.

A recent article in the Boston Herald discusses a proposed amendment to the EU regulation banning the use of lead in solders:

In Europe, regulations forbid the use of lead in solders. This has led manufacturers of electronic gear to switch from a lead-tin alloy to pure tin or a tin-silver-copper solder.

So? The “so” is that the new solders, especially under vibration or extreme temperature cycles, can grow “whiskers” of tin (under microphotography they look just like the whiskers of a man’s beard) that can short-circuit today’s miniaturized gear if they touch something maybe 1 millimeter away. Tin-lead solders rarely did that. On top of that, the new solders make joints that are much weaker than the old – raising the risk of a broken circuit. Other solders are possible using different alloys, but at higher and higher prices.

More than dead cell phones are at stake. A 2005 shutdown of a nuclear power plant in Waterford, Conn., was traced to a false alarm produced by a whisker of tin.

The European Union adopted the regulations in 2000 out of concern for dealing with lead when products are discarded. Nobody liked the extra costs of handling the lead that formed in incinerator slag, for instance. The EU is now considering possible amendments.

See the full article here: Getting the lead out not so simple.

A recent article discusses proposed amendments to South Africa’s Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act 54 of 1972:

Consumer groups and dieticians have hailed proposed amendments to food labelling legislation as progressive, saying the changes would encourage a “healthier” nation.

However, they remain concerned about how the law will be policed, and say that loopholes may allow the makers of food supplements to continue making “outrageous” claims.

The 80-page draft regulations under the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act 54 of 1972 were released last week by the department of health for public comment.

The due date for submissions is October 20.

The full article is available here: New food label laws ‘will make SA healthier’.

Chemical and Engineering News discusses a potential amendment to the Toxic Substances Control Act:

Under S. 742, EPA would regularly review the chlor-alkali industry’s exemption. The agency could revoke the exemption if it finds that use of the asbestos diaphragms poses an unreasonable risk to human health or the environment.

The bill would also provide exemptions to the military and NASA, allowing them to continue to use asbestos for critical functions.

EPA attempted to phase out nearly all asbestos-containing products in 1989, but a federal appeals court threw out the regulation in 1991. The court said EPA did not give enough consideration to alternative ways to control asbestos exposure that would be less burdensome on industry than a ban.

S. 742, which would amend the Toxic Substances Control Act, next goes to the full Senate for consideration.

See the full article here: Senate Panel Adopts Bill To Ban Asbestos.

The site Core77.com has an introductory piece on a number of new pieces of legislation coming out of Europe. Here is a snippet:

Just ratified is the new European law on chemicals, REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), which covers the toxicity and hazards of chemical substances, touching the nascent field of green chemistry. Also to be enforced is the EU Directive on the Ecodesign of EUPs – this will directly regulate the negative contribution to the environment across the entire lifecycle of the product, not just the use phase.

Supporting activities include the Ecolabel—a voluntary certification for a wider range of products beyond those that merely consume energy during their use—helping consumers identify products that have considered all aspects of environmental impact toward minimum ecological footprint, compared to other products in the same category. This includes the chopped green beans, as their total carbon footprint assessed across the supply chain would take into account the energy expended to grow them, process them, package them and deliver them to the neighbourhood supermarket.

The full article here: Ecodesign, Ecolabels and the Environment: How Europe is redesigning our footprint on earth.