From CommonDreams.org:

NRDC filed its lawsuit in California Superior Court in Alameda County against 16 retailers and manufacturers including Petsmart, PetCo, and Petstore.com, for failing to comply with California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, known as Proposition 65, which prohibits businesses from knowingly exposing consumers without proper warning to any chemical “known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive harm.” These companies have failed to caution consumers about exposure to propoxur from the use of their products, which should have been labeled with a warning as of August 11, 2007.  Proposition 65 provides for penalties of up to $2,500 for every violation.

NRDC’s new report, Poison on Pets II, found flea collars containing TCVP and propoxur pose serious neurological and cancer risks. These chemical-laden flea collars expose humans to highly hazardous chemicals that can damage the brain and nervous system and cause cancer. Children are particularly at risk from these pesticides because their neurological and metabolic systems are still developing. They are also more likely than adults to put their hands in their mouths after petting an animal, leading to the ingestion of hazardous residues.

Click on the above link for more information.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: OSHA MSDS Authoring, CPSC Consumer Label Reviews, Nexreg.

From EnviroBLR.com:

EPA has announced a settlement with a multinational manufacturer of polymer-based fibers to pay a $1.7 million civil penalty and spend up to an estimated $500 million to correct self-reported environmental violations discovered at facilities in seven states. This is the largest settlement under EPA’s audit policy, which was launched in 1995. The company disclosed more than 680 violations of water, air, hazardous waste, emergency planning and preparedness, and pesticide regulations to EPA after auditing 12 facilities it acquired in 2004…

EPA’s experience with this particular company guided the development of a national interim audit policy for new owners–announced in August 2008–designed to encourage other new owners to make a “clean start” at their recently acquired facilities…

EPA’s audit policy provides incentives to companies that voluntarily discover, promptly disclose, and expeditiously correct environmental violations. The companies must also take steps to prevent future violations. EPA may reduce or waive penalties for certain violations if the facility meets the conditions of the policy. Consistent with the audit policy, EPA waived a large portion of the penalty in this case…

For more information on the incentives of EPA’s Audit Policy, see http://www.epa.gov/compliance/incentives/auditing/newowners-incentives.html.

Click on the links for more information.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: OSHA MSDS Authoring, CPSC Consumer Label Reviews, Nexreg.

An annoucement from the EU:

A new version of the EC inventory (version 1.1) is now available for downloading at the IUCLID website.

This version of the EC inventory contains the whole of the European INventory of Existing commercial Chemical Substances (EINECS) and the No-Longer Polymer (NLP) inventories as published on ESIS. In addition it contains the European LIst of Notified Chemical Substances (ELINCS) inventory numbers that were allocated up until January 2009. Additional information such as the chemical name is only present if published in the 6th publication of ELINCS.

This updated version of the EC inventory contains 106,208 entries.

In addition, the ‘list numbers’ assigned to pre-registered substances without a current EC number have been gathered in two ‘list numbers’ IUCLID files. A first file contains 17,087 substances that have been pre-registered with a CAS number (series 600 of the ‘list numbers’) while the second file contains 22,015 substances pre-registered as multi-constituent substances or with only a chemical name as identifier (series 900 of the ‘list numbers’). The ‘list numbers’ should be used to make the registration of these substances easier. For more information, please refer to ECHA press release of 27th March 2009 (ECHA/PR/09/03).

For more information, click on the above link.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: Nexreg, REACH Compliance, EU SDS Authoring.

From Courant.com:

Connecticut moved a step closer Tuesday to banning the sale of plastic baby bottles, food containers and cups containing a chemical that has been restricted in Canada and that some scientists say is a health threat.

A legislative committee unanimously endorsed restrictions on making, selling or distributing products in Connecticut made with bisphenol-A, or BPA. The substance is commonly used to harden plastic and make it shatterproof, and to line the insides of certain food containers.

Connecticut, California, Oregon, Hawaii and several other states are considering a ban or limits on the chemical. Suffolk County, on New York’s Long Island, last month became the first place in the nation to enact a ban. Canada announced a ban on the substance in baby bottles, becoming the first country last year to restrict the sale of the chemical.

If approved by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, the law would phase in restrictions over the next few years to prohibit making, selling or distributing baby bottles and certain other products made with BPA. Warning labels also would be required on all food products — not just infant formulas and others intended for children — that come in containers made with BPA and sold in Connecticut.

Click on the above link for more information.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: OSHA MSDS Authoring, CPSC Consumer Label Reviews, Nexreg.

From Canada.com:

Canada on Saturday will become the first country to formally declare bisphenol A hazardous to human health and officially inform the baby-product industry it will no longer be able to use the chemical in baby bottles.

Canada’s announcement comes six months after Health Minister Tony Clement surprised the chemical industry by announcing the government’s plan to place bisphenol A on its list of toxic substances and ban its use in baby bottles.

In unveiling the “precautionary and prudent” move, Clement proposed a limited ban of the widely used chemical, also found in hard plastic sports bottles and the lining of food cans.

Click on the above link for more information.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: Nexreg, CCCR Consumer Label Reviews, WHMIS MSDS Authoring.

From the Wall Street Journal:

A few manufacturers of household cleaning products have begun disclosing the chemicals in some of their products. S.C. Johnson and Son Inc. last month rolled out Web site WhatsInsideSCJohnson.com to describe most of the ingredients for its Windex, Glade, and Shout brands. Clorox Co. lists ingredients for its Formula 409 and other products at TheCloroxCompany.com…

These efforts are receiving a boost from industry trade groups that recently set up joint guidelines to encourage use of a standardized format for presenting the technical information. “Consumers want to know more to ensure the safety of their family,” says a Procter and Gamble spokesman. “The industry is changing along with that.”…

Federal law generally doesn’t require manufacturers to disclose which chemicals are used in household cleaning products, though companies must include on labels any emergency warnings and instructions for first aid. For institutional cleaning products, companies are required to disclose certain chemicals that may be hazardous because professional cleaners are generally exposed to greater volumes of chemicals than the average household user. That information is contained in “material safety data sheets” posted on corporate Web sites.

Click on the above link for more information.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: OSHA MSDS Authoring, CPSC Consumer Label Reviews, Nexreg.

From EHS Today:

In its newly published guidance document, Assigned Protection Factors (APF), OSHA provides employers with vital information for selecting respirators for workers exposed to contaminants in the air.

The guidance focuses on mandatory respirator selection provisions added to the existing Respiratory Protection standard. OSHA revised this standard in 2006 to add APFs and Maximum Use Concentration (MUC) provisions.

APF means the workplace level of respiratory protection that a respirator or class of respirators is able to provide to workers. The higher the APF number (5 to 10,000), the greater the level of protection provided to the user. APFs are used to select the appropriate class of respirators that will provide the necessary level of protection against airborne contaminants. Such exposures can come from particles or a gas or vapor.

Click on the above link for more information.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: OSHA MSDS Authoring, CPSC Consumer Label Reviews, Nexreg.

From The Canadian Press:

The proposed legislation would make Ontario the first province in Canada to require big companies to track and report on their use of toxic chemicals, as well as develop plans to cut their use of the substances, he said.

But it’s up to businesses to decide if they want to follow through with those plans, Gerretsen said…

The federal government already requires big companies to report how much pollution is being released from their plants. But they don’t have to say how much harmful material is used, or come up with a reduction plan…

A draft list of about 45 different hazardous substances, including chlorine, formaldehyde and asbestos, will be up for public consultation.

Click on the above link for more information.  More information is also available from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: Nexreg, CCCR Consumer Label Reviews, WHMIS MSDS Authoring.

Might changes to U.S. consumer or cosmetic label law be coming?  From Environmental Science and Technology:

Dozens of children’s bath products are contaminated with formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, both considered probable human carcinogens by the U.S. EPA, according to a study published by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. No More Toxic Tub documents that more than 60% of 48 popular products tested, including Johnson’s Baby Shampoo and Sesame Street Bubble Bath, contained one or both of the toxic chemicals…

EPA lists both formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane as probable human carcinogens; the Consumer Product Safety Commission says that “the presence of 1,4-dioxane, even as a trace contaminant, is cause for concern.” However, the two chemicals don’t appear on the labels of the products in which they were found because they are considered impurities that are exempt from labeling…

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) is just one of the lawmakers calling for reform in response to the report’s findings. She plans to “soon” introduce legislation requiring greater oversight of the personal products industry to address this problem and “ensure that the chemicals that are used in our everyday products are safe.”

Click on the above link for more information.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: OSHA MSDS Authoring, CPSC Consumer Label Reviews, Nexreg.

From EURActiv:

The European Parliament’s environment committee this week adopted a report by Swedish Green MEP Carl Schlyter which calls for tighter controls on nanotechnology, including the application of the ‘no data, no market’ principle contained in the REACH Directive.

The own-initiative, non-binding report calls for products containing nanotechnology which are already on the market to be withdrawn until safety assessments can be made.

The European Environmental Bureauexternal , a network of environmental NGOs, hailed the report as a significant victory in the ongoing debate on how to legislate for fast-moving developments in nanoscience.

Schlyter said the report, which was adopted on March 31 by 21 votes to 14, had not been easy to negotiate, as political groups had been changing their position throughout the process.

For more information, click on the above link.

Relevant Nexreg Compliance Links: Nexreg, REACH Compliance, EU SDS Authoring.