Preview Newsletter
PRACTICE ACC PM Shelly 23/11/17
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(ACC Mentioned) Politicians, Not PACs, Should Speak for Their Own Efforts
Nov 23, 2017 | Wyoming Tribune
By Dawn Chestnutt
Recently, I have been seeing commercials touting John Barrasso and how he cares for the Wyoming people. These ads are paid for by the American Chemistry Council, which is a trade group representing chemical companies, with a political action committee that has spent millions since 2013 to see candidates get elected that support their beliefs. -
Editorial Board Resigns - Protest Corporate TakeOver IJOEH
Nov 23, 2017 | Natural Resources Defense Council
By Jennifer Sass
For 22 years the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (IJOEH) was the leading scientific journal on global health hazards, and on criticizing the corporate manipulation of science and policy. But a new publisher appears to be transforming it into a mouthpiece for industry consultants. In 2015 the IJOEH publisher, Maney, was taken over by a larger publishing company, Taylor & Francis (T&F), which then told the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. David Egilman, in February 2016 that it would not be renewing his contract which ran out at the end of that year, December 2016. -
Maurice D. Hinchey, Congressman and Environmental Advocate, Dies at 79
Nov 23, 2017 | The New York Times
By Matt Stevens
Maurice D. Hinchey, a former United States representative from New York who built a reputation as a champion of the environment and blue-collar workers over a political career that spanned nearly four decades, died on Wednesday at his home in Saugerties, in the Hudson Valley. He was 79. -
California Moves on Methylene Chloride Paint Strippers Under SCP Programme
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A Miller
California's Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has proposed regulations to name paint strippers containing methylene chloride a "priority product". The move comes under the state's Safer Consumer Products (SCP) programme and is the next step in a process that could lead to the products being restricted or banned in California. -
US Children’s Products Trade Group Refutes NGO Chemical Ranking
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
US trade group the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association criticised an NGO report — which grades retailers’ on their efforts to tackle chemicals of concern — for implying children’s products could be toxic. -
Head of UN Environment Calls For 'Targeted Intervention' on Hazardous Chemicals
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
In his vision to combat the rise in global pollution, UN Environment executive director, Erik Solheim (pictured), has set out measures to address hazardous chemicals. Mr Solheim's report, Towards a Pollution-Free Planet, outlines actions to tackle the issue around the world and highlights chemicals of concern as a "hard-hitting" target. -
Furniture Trade Body Welcomes EU Warning on Flame Retardants
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
The European Furniture Industries Confederation (Efic) has welcomed a warning, included in the revised EU Green Public Procurement criteria, on the negative effects of flame retardant use. GPP criteria for furniture are voluntary guidelines, which aim to help public authorities purchase products and services with reduced environmental impacts. In the staff working document on the EU GPP, the European Commission notes that the open flame test for upholstered furniture (EN 1021-2) requires a lower level of flammability than the European 'smoulder ignition test' (EN 1021-1). -
ToxCast and Tox21 High-Throughput Data Identify Potential EDCs
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
ToxCast and Tox21 high-throughput screening data provide a "rapid and effective resource" for identifying substances with the potential to activate human oestrogen (estrogen) receptors (ERs), according to a top US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official. Stan Barone, acting director of the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, was describing progress in using ER high-throughput assays for tier 1 of the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) at a workshop on toxicity testing and decision making. -
US NAS Workshop Raises Issue of Animal Tests as 'Gold Standard'
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The issue of whether animal test methods should be used as as a "gold standard" against which to judge the alternatives was raised by multiple attendees at a recent US workshop on toxicity testing and decision making. "It is one of the big challenges that we face," said Anna Lowit, co-chair of the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (Iccvam) and senior science adviser at the US EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs. -
Echa: Non-Animal Tests for Complex Endpoints Remain Distant
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Non-animal approaches for the prediction of higher-tier hazard endpoints that would be applicable under EU chemical legislation are "not foreseen" in the near or medium term, according to analysis by Echa. Non-animal approaches in general are the subject of "very active ongoing research", the agency said in a report on the current status of regulatory applicability of such approaches under the REACH, CLP and biocidal products Regulations. Furthermore, those for the prediction of certain lower-tier endpoints, such as skin irritation, corrosion and sensitisation, have become standards, as defined by the legislation. -
North Carolina to Yank Chemours’s Water Pollution Permit for Fluorochemical Production
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical and Engineering News
By Cheryl Hogue
Manufacture of fluorinated chemicals, including Nafion sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene-based ionic polymers, at Chemours’s plant near Fayetteville, N.C., could be hampered because North Carolina is suspending part of the facility’s permit to discharge process wastewater.
Industry and Association News
LCSA News
Chemical Management News
Energy News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Chemical Security News
Transportation and Infrastructure News - There are no clips to report at this time.
Environment News - There are no clips to report at this time.
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(ACC Mentioned) Politicians, Not PACs, Should Speak for Their Own Efforts
Nov 23, 2017 | Wyoming Tribune
By Dawn Chestnutt
Recently, I have been seeing commercials touting John Barrasso and how he cares for the Wyoming people. These ads are paid for by the American Chemistry Council, which is a trade group representing chemical companies, with a political action committee that has spent millions since 2013 to see candidates get elected that support their beliefs.
It seems odd to me that we need to be reminded by a PAC from outside Wyoming regarding Senator Barrasso’s efforts.
http://www.wyomingnews.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/politicians-not-pacs-should-speak-for-their-own-efforts/article_98690672-cfea-11e7-be26-0f3c5f1ac780.html
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Editorial Board Resigns - Protest Corporate TakeOver IJOEH
Nov 23, 2017 | Natural Resources Defense Council
By Jennifer Sass
For 22 years the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (IJOEH) was the leading scientific journal on global health hazards, and on criticizing the corporate manipulation of science and policy. But a new publisher appears to be transforming it into a mouthpiece for industry consultants.
In 2015 the IJOEH publisher, Maney, was taken over by a larger publishing company, Taylor & Francis (T&F), which then told the Editor-in-Chief, Dr. David Egilman, in February 2016 that it would not be renewing his contract which ran out at the end of that year, December 2016.
Without consulting anyone on the editorial board of the journal, T&F hired chemical industry consultant Andrew Maier as the new Editor-in-Chief. Maier works with industry consulting firm TERA, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment. TERA has been at the center of public and Congressional fire recently, over the work of its founder, Michael Dourson, and TERA on behalf of Dow Chemical, CropLife America, the American Chemistry Council, the American Petroleum Institute, Koch Industries and other clients to weaken the science and undermine regulation of toxic chemicals that are poisoning people all over this country. Dourson is the Trump nominee to run the science office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the work of TERA runs afoul of EPA’s mission to regulate and reduce pollution. (see details of TERA’s misdeeds documented in reports by Sharon Lerner for The Intercept)
The editorial board wrote a letter identifying its concerns with Maier (direct link to letter in RetractionWatch). As an example of Maier’s work with TERA for corporate clients the editorial board cited the case of diacetyl, an artificial butter flavoring linked to severe lung disease in exposed workers. “Dr. Maier and his co-workers at [corporate consulting firm] TERA recommended a limit of 200 parts per billion in air, based on a study in which 15 mice were exposed up to 30 hours/week for 12 weeks. Dr. Egilman and co-workers criticized the TERA authors for discarding epidemiologic data and recommended 1 ppb or less in their analysis including extensive human data. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH] recommended a limit of 5 parts per billion in air. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists [ACGIH] recommended 10 ppb.” Maier’s recommended limit is 40-times less protective than recommendation of NIOSH, and 20-times less protective than the ACGIH.
In addition to replacing Egilman with Maier, in March 2017 (about a month after letting Dr. Egilman know that his contract would not be renewed) T&F announced that it was withdrawing an article published by Dr. Egilman in IJOEH in 2016. The article is called, “The Production of Corporate Research to Manufacturer Doubt About the Health Hazards of Products: An Overview of the Exponent Bakelite™ Simulation Study” (Full article here). Bakelite™ was an asbestos-containing plastic produced and sold by Union Carbide for decades starting in the 1930’s, and widely used for making telephones, radios, and other electronic equipment. In the normal course of its use, workers would cut, saw, and drill the plastic, creating airborne asbestos. Union Carbide has since been sued by hundreds of workers that have developed deadly cancer linked to occupational exposures to Bakelite dust.
Infamous chemical industry consultant Dennis Paustenbach, with consulting firm Cardno ChemRisk, conducted a study that cost over a million dollars (presumably paid by Union Carbide) to conduct exposure simulation studies on Bakelite (such studies are listed as one of his ‘key services’ for clients). This is not the first time that Paustenbach was paid to minimize asbestos hazards in products on behalf of companies fighting injury claims by workers and their families (see 2016 detailed report by the Center for Public Integrity: Ford spent $40 million to reshape asbestos science) The studies provided evidence useful to Union Carbide in defending liability lawsuits. Paustenbach’s study was published in 2005, concluding that, “…assuming an exposure scenario in which a worker uses power tools to cut and sand products molded from BMMA-5353 [Bakelite] and similar products in the manner evaluated in this study, airborne asbestos concentrations should not exceed current or historical occupational exposure limits” (underline added for emphasis). In other words, whatever levels of asbestos the exposed workers may have been exposed to from Bakelite products, it was within the legally allowed workplace limits.
Dr. Egilman’s article observed that the bandsaw cutting speed in the simulated study would incorrectly minimize asbestos exposures. Egilman writes, “Exponent increased the time denominator by starting the clock minutes before any activity commenced, and by performing the work process at a farcically slow pace... Paustenbach took 14 min and 29 s to make five 4″-long cuts in the reformulated Bakelite™ pieces that were 6″ wide. No worker could work this slowly and not get fired”. By using an artificially slow saw speed the simulation would produce less airborne dust, leading to an artificially low amount of exposure to the deadly asbestos dust.
The IJOEH editorial board repeatedly corresponded with corporate executives at T&F regarding both Maier’s appointment without the knowledge or involvement of any editors, and the unexplained retraction of the Bakelite paper. In mid-November 2017, after being stonewalled by the publisher, all 22 members of the IJOEH editorial board wrote to the National Library of Medicine requesting that the journal be de-listed from the online library for all issues published after 2016. De-listing would make it less publicly available, and therefore reduce its ‘impact factor’, a standard measurement of how useful and well-respected a scientific journal is.
The events were reported in ProPublica and Confined Space this week. ProPublica reportedthat it obtained an email from T&F stating that Paustenbach, “has been in touch to request that we retract Egilman’s [Bakelite] article”, although Paustenbach denied this in an email to ProPublica.
This week the entire editorial board resigned in protest (see RetractionWatch). At a time when the chemical industry has taken over the EPA, we can’t afford to lose one of the few independent scientific journals willing to publish peer reviewed critiques of industry practices. The corporate takeover of this intrepid journal will dim the light of truth about toxic chemicals causing illness and death in the workplace.
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Maurice D. Hinchey, Congressman and Environmental Advocate, Dies at 79
Nov 23, 2017 | The New York Times
By Matt Stevens
Maurice D. Hinchey, a former United States representative from New York who built a reputation as a champion of the environment and blue-collar workers over a political career that spanned nearly four decades, died on Wednesday at his home in Saugerties, in the Hudson Valley. He was 79.
The cause was frontotemporal degeneration, a rare terminal neurological disorder, his family said.
Mr. Hinchey, a Democrat who retired from Congress in 2013 after 10 terms, began his political career as a state assemblyman in 1975. Within four years, he became the chairman of the Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee. He served in the Assembly until 1992, when he was elected to Congress.
During his time on the conservation committee, Mr. Hinchey led an investigation into Love Canal, an unfinished waterway in upstate New York that became one of the nation’s first major toxic dump sites. The saga that emerged would force hundreds of families to evacuate and elevate concerns over toxic waste to the national spotlight.
As a state lawmaker, Mr. Hinchey also aided in the preservation and cleanup of the Hudson River and helped pass the first law in the country aimed at controlling acid rain. He also spent 10 years leading an investigation into organized crime’s control of the waste-hauling industry.
During his two decades in Congress, Mr. Hinchey served a district that spanned eight counties, from the Hudson Valley to the Finger Lakes region, and included both troubled industrial cities and tourist resorts. To serve his diverse constituents, he pursued an agenda that made the environment a priority and positioned him as an advocate for economic development.
He became a fierce critic of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, and an equally strong proponent of renewable energy — a sector that he saw as critical to the economy and that he hoped could build a hub in upstate New York.
Although he had an unassuming demeanor and kept a relatively low profile, Mr. Hinchey came to be known as a reliable Democratic vote and wielded influence with a seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee, where he routinely inserted money for his district and state into federal spending bills.
Born on Oct. 27, 1938, in New York City to Maurice and Rose Hinchey, Mr. Hinchey moved to Saugerties with his family as a boy. He enlisted in the Navy after high school and later worked as a laborer at a Hudson Valley cement plant for two years.PhotoMr. Hinchey, right, with Duke Devlin, a participant in the 1969 Woodstock festival, in 2004.CreditBill Wingell for The New York Times
A biography provided by his family said that Mr. Hinchey put himself through the State University of New York at New Paltz working as a night-shift toll collector on the New York State Thruway. He also earned a master’s degree at the university and did advanced graduate work in public administration and economics at the State University of New York at Albany.
Mr. Hinchey is survived by his wife, Ilene Marder Hinchey; his children, Michelle, Joseph and Reese Hinchey; his sister, Patricia; his brothers, Michael and John; and four grandchildren.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said in a statement on Wednesday that he had known Mr. Hinchey since the two served together in the State Assembly in the 1970s.
“ ‘Mighty Moe’ as I used to call him was a man of great conviction, principle, endless energy and rare legislative ability,” Mr. Schumer said. “He cut a unique figure throughout the Hudson Valley and the Southern Tier, and was passionately committed to the environment and to preserving that region’s priceless open and wild spaces.”
Speaking in 2000 to The Times Herald-Record of Middletown, N.Y., about his career in public service, Mr. Hinchey said, “I know that I’m a better fighter than most people, and I’m happy to employ those skills on their behalf.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/obituaries/maurice-hinchey-dies.html
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California Moves on Methylene Chloride Paint Strippers Under SCP Programme
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Julie A Miller
California's Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has proposed regulations to name paint strippers containing methylene chloride a "priority product". The move comes under the state's Safer Consumer Products (SCP) programme and is the next step in a process that could lead to the products being restricted or banned in California.
The agency said it will accept written comments until 18 January, and will hold a public hearing on 8 January.
Once the regulation is finalised, manufacturers of such products sold in the state will have 60 days to register with the department and begin an analysis to determine if a safer alternative is possible.
The DTSC named the first three chemicals to be scrutinised under the programme in 2014. And children's sleeping items containing the flame retardants TDCPP or TCEP officially became the first "priority product" on 1 July. Alternatives analyses for this should be underway. The public comment period on the second priority product – spray polyurethane foam (SPF) containing MDI – ended on 6 June.
It took more than eight months to move from consultation to finalised regulations on the flame retardants, so it is likely alternatives analyses for methylene chloride paint strippers will not begin until the end of 2018.
Methylene chloride paint strippers are not only carcinogenic and neurotoxic, the DTSC says, but "high-level acute exposures can be fatal and there are numerous worker and consumer deaths" associated with their use.
The requirements will apply to any methylene chloride product sold in California "as a chemical substance designed to break down paint, varnish, or any other surface coating to facilitate its removal from any surface."
Separate California regulations already ban the use of methylene chloride in a variety of consumer cleaning products.
Listing as a priority product "sets in motion a strategy to reduce human exposure," the DTSC said in its current proposal, but it is unknown what regulatory action might be taken in response to alternatives analyses.
"Because each manufacturer's proposal will address its specific business situation, DTSC cannot predetermine the actions that paint or varnish manufacturers would need to take, either individually or collectively, to meet the goals of protecting people and the environment and advance green chemistry or green engineering principles," the agency said.EPA considering federal ban
In the last days of the Obama administration, the US EPA issued a proposed rule to ban all consumer, and most commercial, use of methylene chloride as a paint stripper. And the agency solicited feedback on whether to additionally ban n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP), or impose rules on concentration, workplace protections and labelling.
The January proposal specifically excluded furniture refinishing, indicating that the EPA would "propose such a regulation at a later date."
At a September EPA stakeholder workshop, manufacturers and industrial users argued for requiring protective measures and possibly restricting the use of methylene chloride to commercial products, arguing that an outright ban would make furniture stripping unprofitable.
The workshop could be a clue that the Trump administration might follow through on some methylene chloride regulation. In addition, the semiannual regulatory agenda the EPA published on 24 August indicated that the agency plans to publish a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking, amending its original proposal.
There is no requirement that the EPA act on that rule. However, methylene chloride is also being reviewed separately as one of the first ten priority substances subject to mandatory risk evaluation under the new TSCA. Furniture refinishing is included in the scope of that evaluation.
Sale of paint strippers containing methylene chloride is restricted in the EU under REACH.
https://chemicalwatch.com/61957/california-moves-on-methylene-chloride-paint-strippers-under-scp-programme
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US Children’s Products Trade Group Refutes NGO Chemical Ranking
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
US trade group the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association criticised an NGO report — which grades retailers’ on their efforts to tackle chemicals of concern — for implying children’s products could be toxic.
Kelly Mariotti, executive director of the JPMA, told Chemical Watch that children’s products "cannot present either acute or chronic hazards to children" because they are "heavily regulated" under the Federal Hazardous Substance Act and Consumer Product Safety Act, and most products were tested by government-accredited laboratories before sale.
She said: "We are extremely confident these products are safe and would be verified as safe by any board-certified toxicologist. The claims here are false and misleading, which is why we urge all responsible parties to either verify them or retract them from publication."
The ‘report card’ by the Mind the Store coalition of NGOs ranked 30 retailers across 11 sectors on their chemicals policies.
The eight baby and children’s products retailers assessed received an average D+ grade, matching the average retailer performance on safer chemicals.
Co-author of the report and executive director of the Environmental Health Strategy Center, Mike Belliveau, told Chemical Watch: "We did find that the baby product sector is a laggard in ensuring the chemical safety of the products they sell. That should be a wake-up call to action for most consumers and the retailers."
In a Mind the Store press release, Bobbi Wilding, coordinator of the Getting Ready for Baby campaign, called on Toys R Us subsidiary Babies R Us, and Buybuy Baby to make "vast improvements" in 2018.
However, Frederick Locker, attorney at Locker Greenberg & Brainin LLP, the independent general counsel for JPMA, told Chemical Watch: "The premise of the reports and supporting campaigns is a claim the mere presence of a substance or material renders products toxic; rather than a toxicological assessment of hazardous exposure. There is a significant distinction."'Drop in the bucket'
In response to the JPMA’s comments, Mr Belliveau said: "This report is not an assessment of the safety of an individual product, it is a comparison of leaders and laggards in the retail sector regarding policies and practices that are designed to ensure that chemical safety in the products they buy and sell."
He added: "There are thousands of dangerous chemicals and untested chemicals in commerce. The US government has only outright banned two classes of chemicals in toys in recent times, which is lead compounds and phthalates. That’s a drop in the bucket."
Ms Wilding said in response to the JPMA: "Baby products retailers were evaluated with the same criteria looking at their corporate practices. You don’t need to look any further than the Washington State database on chemicals of concerns in children’s products to realise that there are chemicals of concern being reported by manufacturers in products made for children."
She added: "We stand by our concern in making sure that products made for children are made without chemicals of concern, because we are concerned about eliminating the hazards."Toys R Us
Toys R Us and its subsidiary Babies R Us, received an F grade, scoring five out of a possible 135 points and ranking 22nd out of 30 retailers.
The report says the store is "failing to publicly address toxic chemicals in the products they sell". Toys R Us missed out on points because it does not publish a corporate responsibility report or other public facing documents that summarise their efforts to address chemicals of concern.
A spokesperson for Toys R Us said that, because the report based its grades on publicly available information, it did not reflect its actual policies or programmes.
Buybuy Baby did not respond to Chemical Watch’s request for comment by the time of publishing.
https://chemicalwatch.com/61972/us-childrens-products-trade-group-refutes-ngo-chemical-ranking
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Head of UN Environment Calls For 'Targeted Intervention' on Hazardous Chemicals
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Leigh Stringer
In his vision to combat the rise in global pollution, UN Environment executive director, Erik Solheim (pictured), has set out measures to address hazardous chemicals.
Mr Solheim's report, Towards a Pollution-Free Planet, outlines actions to tackle the issue around the world and highlights chemicals of concern as a "hard-hitting" target. The report has been prepared for the third United Nations Environment Assembly (Unea-3) in Nairobi, Kenya between 4 and 6 December which has the overarching theme of pollution.
The framework targets substances already addressed through multilateral agreements — such as those covered by the UN's Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions. The aim will be to identify — and take action on — areas where implementation and enforcement of these substances needs to be strengthened and scaled up. Examples of where action can be taken include:identifying alternatives;providing additional finances to curb risks;capacity building; andencouraging industry support.
A second target category will be pollutants where scientific evidence already exists to justify new interventions to reduce the risk that they pose, for example for heavy metals. Actions, it says, could include enforcing new emissions standards and improving chemical labelling schemes.
A third category focuses on substances where the emerging scientific evidence of the "nature and magnitude of their risk to human health and the environment points to the need for further investigation and better understanding of those risks", such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
"There is a need to step up research into, and build understanding of, the potential risks of these substances, especially in developing countries," the report says.Chemicals and waste
The report sets out 50 broad policy options to address air, water, land/soil, marine and coastal, and chemicals and waste pollution. Of these, 19 come under chemicals and waste.
These include:adopt sound chemicals management and advance sustainable chemistry within business approaches, policies and practices;increase efforts to deploy locally safe, effective, affordable and environmentally sound alternatives to chemicals of concern, including DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), asbestos, lead and mercury;accelerate the implementation of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, the Minamata Convention and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management in a coordinated manner at the national level;improve knowledge relating to chemicals in products throughout their life cycle (production, use, consumption and disposal); andincrease publicly available information and monitor data on the presence of chemicals in the environment, in humans and in pollution hotspots.
Last month, the EU Council of Ministers called on UN member states to help increase knowledge of hazardous substances, encourage the exchange of information on chemicals in products and replace hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives.
It called upon the assembly meeting to decide upon concrete measures to deal with specific issues such as endocrine disruptors and heavy metals.
https://chemicalwatch.com/61990/head-of-un-environment-calls-for-targeted-intervention-on-hazardous-chemicals
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Furniture Trade Body Welcomes EU Warning on Flame Retardants
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
By Tammy Lovell
The European Furniture Industries Confederation (Efic) has welcomed a warning, included in the revised EU Green Public Procurement criteria, on the negative effects of flame retardant use.
GPP criteria for furniture are voluntary guidelines, which aim to help public authorities purchase products and services with reduced environmental impacts.
In the staff working document on the EU GPP, the European Commission notes that the open flame test for upholstered furniture (EN 1021-2) requires a lower level of flammability than the European 'smoulder ignition test' (EN 1021-1).
It says the open flame test can lead to use of flame retardant chemicals which "may have negative effects for the environment, health, durability and quality of products, and may lead to cost increases".
The guidelines urge public authorities to "therefore consider, according to the intended use and location of the furniture items, what levels of flammability it needs to require."'A first step’
Efic general secretary, Roberta Dessi, told Chemical Watch that the association was glad the Commission had adopted this recommendation.
She said: "It is a first step. We believe that this can help raise awareness among member states about the consequences of choosing certain flammability tests for furniture."
But she added that the "sustainability part" of public tenders is often accompanied by demands for very stringent flammability standards. This leads to widespread use of flame retardants "in contradiction with the aim of having truly green procurements".
She urged member states to "use this feedback to re-evaluate the need for such stringent standards for furniture in their national requirements, in the light of the overwhelming scientific evidence on risks connected to flame retardant use."
The UK and Ireland are the only EU countries to have national regulations requiring an open flame test, which effectively necessitates the use of flame retardants. Last year, Efic lodged a complaint with the Commission on the basis that these standards pose a barrier to trade in the single market.Furniture design
The GPP criteria technical report acknowledges that the need for flame retardants can potentially be avoided by "careful choice of materials and product design". But it says that this type of upholstered furniture "can be considered to only represent a niche market at this stage and, unlike California, current fire safety standards in Europe for public furniture are currently not well set up to embrace this approach."
California removed its open flame test in 2013. Prior to that, California’s Technical Bulletin (TB) 117 had served as the de facto national standard, which effectively required the use of flame retardants.
The report adds that the lack of a harmonised approach to fire safety standards, at the European level, means that "any potential restrictions on flame retardants, recommended in EU GPP criteria, may conflict with specific member state legislation."
Ms Dessi responded: "Our campaign is aimed at having a more proactive approach from European institutions, in making the case for flame retardant free furniture possible."
She also noted: "In addition to the environmental and health impact, there is a growing concern that flame retardants may increase fire toxicity. This would also seriously question any concrete fire safety benefit from their use."
Efic is a member of the Alliance for Flame Retardant Free Furniture in Europe, a coalition of stakeholders including industry associations and environmental NGOs.
Last year, the coalition published a paper, The Case for Flame Retardant free Furniture, calling for the EU to harmonise fire safety regulations so that the chemicals were not required for them to be met.
Efic have argued that the use of flame retardants and other chemicals may prevent the furniture sector from fully entering the circular economy.
Earlier this year, San Francisco banned the sale of upholstered furniture and children’s products, "made with or containing an added flame retardant chemical". More than a dozen US states have banned some categories of the chemicals.
https://chemicalwatch.com/61983/furniture-trade-body-welcomes-eu-warning-on-flame-retardants
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ToxCast and Tox21 High-Throughput Data Identify Potential EDCs
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
ToxCast and Tox21 high-throughput screening data provide a "rapid and effective resource" for identifying substances with the potential to activate human oestrogen (estrogen) receptors (ERs), according to a top US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official.
Stan Barone, acting director of the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, was describing progress in using ER high-throughput assays for tier 1 of the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) at a workshop on toxicity testing and decision making.
The EDSP uses an oestrogen receptor model that integrates data from 18 high-throughput assays. The agency has recently been looking into whether it actually needs all of the tests to get the same predictive validity from the model, and has a publication in press. "The short answer is we don't need 18 assays," said Dr Barone.
The EDSP is making good progress on an androgen receptor model, which integrates 11 in vitro assays, he added.
The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (Fifra SAP) is set to discuss the tests between 28 and 29 November.Limitations
Like most alternative approaches, the high-throughput assays have limitations, Dr Barone explained. These include metabolism and solubility issues. False negatives can result from low solubility, which limits test chemical concentrations. Furthermore, reactive compounds, metals and particulates tend not to work well in the low volume, high-throughput assays, he added. The EPA is conducting research to address these issues.
The agency is also looking into "critical performance criteria" to include in a performance-based guideline to help stakeholders understand data and documentation requirements.
One of the lessons learned is that annotating assays is "critically important for acceptance", said Dr Barone.
Understanding pathways to a paradigm shift in toxicity testing and decision making was held by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in Washington DC between 20 and 21 November.
https://chemicalwatch.com/61994/toxcast-and-tox21-high-throughput-data-identify-potential-edcs
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US NAS Workshop Raises Issue of Animal Tests as 'Gold Standard'
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
The issue of whether animal test methods should be used as as a "gold standard" against which to judge the alternatives was raised by multiple attendees at a recent US workshop on toxicity testing and decision making.
"It is one of the big challenges that we face," said Anna Lowit, co-chair of the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (Iccvam) and senior science adviser at the US EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs.
"One of the things that we are finding is that we are having the most success in areas where human data exists to make those comparisons," she added. As an example, she pointed to recent research suggesting that OECD test guidelines for skin sensitisation may give better predictions of human toxicity than the local lymph node assay (LLNA) in rodents.
Maurice Whelan, head of the EU Reference Laboratory for Alternatives to Animal Testing (EURL Ecvam), described the relevance and variability of animal test results as the "elephant in the room". In the case of alternative skin sensitisation test methods, discussing it with regulatory committees resulted in an important step forwards. "What's the variability of the LLNA data? ... From the human data that we have, we know it's not perfect."Rodent retreat
Meanwhile, Dr Lowit spoke of progress in moving away from rodent tests for skin irritants, and effects in the nasal cavity and lung tissue.
"Industry partners are working towards actually eliminating the 28-day and 90-day rate inhalation study, just because it's not really relevant to humans," she said. "We can do better with animal 3D tissues combined with sophisticated pharmacokinetic modelling and just avoid the animal completely."
She predicted that: "When we start to tackle complicated things, like cancer and developmental reprotoxicity, we will have enough experience under our belt, in a way that we won't have to hold up the rat and the mouse models as a gold standard." The importance of uncertainty
Finally, workshop participants agreed on the need to understand the uncertainties associated with alternative test methods.
The skin sensitisation case "highlights the importance of something that we have neglected for many years: appreciating that, in fact, understanding uncertainty, describing it, talking about it, is extremely important for moving towards people using new approaches," said Professor Whelan.
"The good news is that we won't have to start from scratch. There is an awful lot of rigorous scientific-based work being done on how to go about describing uncertainties."
Understanding pathways to a paradigm shift in toxicity testing and decision making was organised by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and held in Washington, DC on 20-21 November.
https://chemicalwatch.com/61992/us-nas-workshop-raises-issue-of-animal-tests-as-gold-standard
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Echa: Non-Animal Tests for Complex Endpoints Remain Distant
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical Watch
Non-animal approaches for the prediction of higher-tier hazard endpoints that would be applicable under EU chemical legislation are "not foreseen" in the near or medium term, according to analysis by Echa.
Non-animal approaches in general are the subject of "very active ongoing research", the agency said in a report on the current status of regulatory applicability of such approaches under the REACH, CLP and biocidal products Regulations. Furthermore, those for the prediction of certain lower-tier endpoints, such as skin irritation, corrosion and sensitisation, have become standards, as defined by the legislation.
But non-animal approaches for the prediction of more complex endpoints, such as repeated dose or reproductive toxicity, remain far off, the report said.Challenges
The report outlines several challenges to the development of such approaches and their uptake in regulatory contexts.
First, they do not always provide the same levels of information as their animal equivalents in terms of the dose- or concentration-response relationship and adverse effects, it says. Some still under development could provide higher levels of information than current ones. These include approaches based on in vitromicrosystems and high-throughput or high-content approaches. But these will still require standardisation and validation before they can be used in regulatory contexts.
Second, standardisation and validation is complicated by the plurality of approaches required, compared with animal equivalents. Regulators must work out how data generated by non-animal approaches that do not have a direct relationship with an endpoints specified in CLP, can be used for classification and for the derivation of safe use levels.
The agency suggests that an inventory of non-animal approaches that shows stage of development and regulatory applicability would help to identify gaps and determine future steps to enhance use.
The report, requested by Echa’s management board, is the first of its kind. In previous reports, requested by the European Commission and published in 2011, 2014 and 2017, Echa provided data on companies’ use of non-animal approaches under REACH.
In contrast, for each relevant information requirement, the new report provides:the potential non-animal approaches;the challenges to achieving their use in regulatory contexts; andfuture perspectives, including of those approaches that could be close to regulatory applicability.
In a foreword, outgoing Echa executive director Geert Dancet says he hopes the report will act as a guide for the scientific community.
Animal rights NGO Humane Society International (HSI) questioned "the continued emphasis on animal methods as the basis for comparison of the viability of new methods". Such emphasis presumes that toxicology studies on animals are the only valid approach, it said.
"These words must now be backed-up by more positive practical action and financial support for the promotion of non-animal approaches."
Furthermore, future reviews should be led by "mandated bodies", such as the European Commission Reference Laboratory for Alternatives (EURL-Ecvam), HSI said.
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North Carolina to Yank Chemours’s Water Pollution Permit for Fluorochemical Production
Nov 23, 2017 | Chemical and Engineering News
By Cheryl Hogue
Manufacture of fluorinated chemicals, including Nafion sulfonated tetrafluoroethylene-based ionic polymers, at Chemours’s plant near Fayetteville, N.C., could be hampered because North Carolina is suspending part of the facility’s permit to discharge process wastewater.
Earlier this year, Chemours pledged to capture and safely dispose of wastewatercontaining the fluoropolymer processing aid GenX and related fluorinated compounds. GenX has tainted public drinking water drawn from the Cape Fear River downstream of the plant as well as nearby wells.
In September, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality warned Chemours that as of Nov. 30, it would suspend the part of the water pollution permit covering the Nafion and fluoromonomers production area of the plant, a move that would require the company to capture and dispose of all wastewater from those manufacturing processes. Then in late October, the agency said this action wasn’t necessary because Chemours had taken steps to control the release of per- and polyfluorinated compounds in wastewater.
But now, the agency says it will make good on its threat because Chemours allegedly failed to report a spill of GenX at the plant in early October. Chemours in early November acknowledged the spill, which led to a nearly 100-fold increase in GenX concentrations at its outfall into the Cape Fear River, the agency adds.
Chemours calls the suspension “unwarranted.” The company says it has worked in good faith to cooperate with the agency.
The company and its former parent, DowDuPont, face a class-action lawsuit over the contaminated drinking water.
https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/i47/North-Carolina-yank-Chemours-water-pollution-permit-for-fluorochemical-production.html
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