Canadian Occupational Health & Safety News discusses a recent ruling about the need to make paper copies of MSDSs available to workers in Ontario: An Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) panel has suspended an inspector’s order that a company ensure “readily accessible” hard copies of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) be available to employees until […]
More on the potential ban of 2,4-D in Canada: The department’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency is expected to issue a final ruling on the safety of the herbicide, which is used to kill dandelions and other broadleaved plants, in early 2007. It issued a preliminary assessment indicating it favoured continued use of the product in […]
Not everyone is happy with changes in drug labeling put into place by the FDA: Experts say the new labeling system for prescription drugs about to launch in the United States will not radically improve patient safety or the prescribing process. What’s more, the new rules include a clause, slipped in silently after the public-comment […]
Some new food regulations may be coming into place in Chicago: If the City Council can ban foie gras, a fatty liver delicacy that most Chicagoans have never tasted and cannot afford, why not ban a product that’s known to cause obesity and heart disease? Chicago’s most powerful alderman raised that question Wednesday, then began […]
A press release from the OEHHA: The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) of the California Environmental Protection Agency is adding a chemical to the list of chemicals known to the State to cause reproductive toxicity for purposes of the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 651). The chemical is […]
An article at FoodConsumer.org discusses labeling of cough medicines: Carbinoxamine containing cough medicines and many other types on the market have been unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration. Some can pose serious health risks, particularly to young children. Because of this, the agency on Thursday launched a campaign to stop these unapproved drug makers. […]
Time magazine has a rather alarmist article about labels on consumer chemicals: But where were the ingredients? There were scary words on the labels–WARNING and DANGER! KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN–and some nasty things I recognized (bleach, ammonia, the generic word disinfectant). With cereal boxes detailing everything from trans fats to soluble fiber, I […]
The Chicago Tribune discusses Prop 65 regulations in California and how some manufacturers are being pressured to change their formulations: Nail products company OPI has long charmed women with whimsical shade names such as “O’Hare and Nails Look Great!” and “That’s an EL of a color.” It even launched a line of nail “pawlish” for […]
Natural Life Magazine discusses the labeling of cosmetics products: The American Academy of Dermatology says that more than 5,000 different fragrances are used in perfumes and skin products, in hundreds of chemical combinations. But because the chemical formulas of fragrances are considered trade secrets, companies aren’t required to list their ingredients. Twenty years ago, […]
The Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal reports that: 3M agreed Tuesday to pay a $1.5 million penalty to the Environmental Protection Agency for 244 violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act, for using unsafe chemicals in its products, according to media reports. The EPA, which did not specify when and where the violations happened, […]