The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has updated its Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Work Plan for Chemical Assessments to include bisphenol A (BPA), seven phthalates and 15 other substances. Designed to help the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics identify chemicals with “the highest potential for exposure and hazard,” the TSCA Work Plan in 2012 flagged 83 chemicals as part of an ongoing initiative to expedite assessments for substances believed to have reproductive, developmental or neurotoxic effects, as well as those that are “probable or known carcinogens” or “persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic.” The plan also targets substances used in children’s products and those that have been detected in biomonitoring programs. This latest update to the TSCA Work Plan removes 15 chemicals and adds 23 new ones, bringing the total list to 90 chemicals. In addition to BPA, the chemicals added to the updated list include dibutyl phthalate, butyl benzyl phthalate, di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, di-n-octyl…
Category Archives Legislation, Regulations and Standards
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has denied two citizen petitions asking the agency to prohibit the use of aspartame as a non-caloric sweetener. Dated July 16, 2002, the first petition argued that the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Response Act authorizes FDA to recall dangerous chemicals without manufacturer approval. Citing studies conducted by the European Ramazzini Foundation (ERF), the second petition urged FDA to revoke approval for the sweetener under the Delaney Clause in section 409(c)(3)(A) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which provides that “no additive shall be deemed to be safe if it is found to induce cancer when ingested by man or animal, or if it is found, after tests which are appropriate for the evaluation of the safety of food additives, to induce cancer in man or animal.” Responding to these claims, FDA reasoned that the first petition and subsequent comments…
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) has issued a report challenging the proposed organic aquaculture production regulations under consideration by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Titled Like Water and Oil: Ocean-Based Fish Farming and Organic Don’t Mix, the report argues that USDA should reject proposed standards that would allegedly dilute the value of organic certification by allowing the agency’s seal to appear on fish products sourced from ocean-based farms. In addition to citing the high number of fish escapes reported in the previous two decades, CFS claims that “open-ocean fish farms can never be organic,” partly because synthetic chemicals prohibited under the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) are ubiquitous in the marine environment. The group also alleges that open-ocean farming not only alters the natural behavior of migratory fish in violation of OFPA, but harms wild fisheries by using wild-caught fish as a feed source. “It’s mind-boggling to think that…
The Pew Charitable Trusts and Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) have released an October 2014 report urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reevaluate its current meat and poultry inspection system. Seeking to identify innovations that could better protect consumers, Meat and Poultry Inspection 2.0 compares U.S. regulations to those used in Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden. It also examines scientific assessments undertaken by the U.K. Food Standards Agency and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as part of their efforts to modernize food safety regulations. “Modernizing government inspection of meat and poultry plants would focus resources on the food safety risks posed by bacteria and other microbiological and chemical hazards, and away from some human and animal diseases, such as tuberculosis and brucellosis, that have been successfully controlled in most developed countries,” argues the report. “However, out of a concern that modernizing government…
According to a proposed consent decree filed in a D.C. district court, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will “submit a final rule regarding ‘Substances Generally Recognized as Safe’ [GRAS] to the Federal Register for publication no later than August 31, 2016.” Ctr. for Food Safety v. Burwell, No. 14-0267 (U.S. Dist. Ct., D.D.C., consent decree filed October 20, 2014). The Center for Food Safety apparently brought the action over concerns that food makers have been able to use an interim GRAS process and secure agency approval for allegedly unsafe ingredients, such as volatile oil of mustard, “olestra” and “quorn,” based on self-assessments. According to the Center’s complaint against the agency, FDA has unlawfully exempted GRAS substances from regulation as food additives under a rule proposed, but never finalized, some 15 years ago. That proposed rule purportedly eliminated a petition process requiring food companies to demonstrate that a substance satisfies…
The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has denied a petition seeking review of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholding a California law prohibiting the sale of commodities, such as foie gras, produced by “force feeding a bird for the purpose of enlarging the bird’s liver beyond normal size.” Association des Éleveurs de Canards et d’Oies du Québec v. Harris, No. 13-1313 (U.S., certiorari denied October 14, 2014). Details about the Ninth Circuit decision appear in Issue 497 of this Update. Among other matters, the Ninth Circuit had found that a number of the issues presented by the plaintiffs were premature because they had appealed the denial of a motion for preliminary injunction. The question that out-of-state fois gras producers presented to SCOTUS was “[w]hether the Commerce Clause allows California to impose a complete ban on the sale of wholesome, USDA-approved poultry products from other States and countries—in this case, foie…
The Belarussian Chamber of Representatives has reportedly approved draft legislation that would stop the practice of advertising products and events other than alcohol beverages with names and logos that are confusingly similar to alcohol brands. Some bottled waters, for example, are apparently promoted with names, fonts and images that are associated with vodka brands with just a slight change in the nam —a practice referred to as “umbrella” advertising. Existing advertising law would be tightened to help reduce the use of alcohol, combat alcoholism and reduce tobacco consumption—the latter by applying the same standards to ad campaigns bearing a resemblance to tobacco product brands. The bill will become law unless rejected by the National Assembly’s Council of the Republic or the president. See Minskby.com, October 23, 2014. Issue 542
French Health Minister Marisol Touraine has reportedly proposed a law that would establish standards for ingredient transparency in mass-produced food, blank cigarette packets and “fixing rooms” that allow drug addicts to inject themselves in a safer environment, as well as impose fines—or possible jail sentences up to one year—for selling “products that make alcohol appear pleasant.” The draft law’s binge drinking provisions have attracted media attention for their seeming contradiction with French culture, but a 2013 report from France’s National Institute for Prevention and Education in Health found that excessive consumption of alcohol among French young people is rising, with as many as one in six children between ages 11 and 14 reporting that they have been drunk at least once. Under the proposed law, “Directly provoking a minor to excessive consumption of alcohol will be punished by a year imprisonment and a fine of €15,000.” The law would reportedly…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a scientific opinion calling chronic dietary exposure to perchlorate a potential concern, “in particular for the high consumers in younger age groups of the population with mild to moderate iodine deficiency.” In addition to considering scientific literature on perchlorate levels in fruit juices, alcohol beverages, milk, and infant formula and breast milk, EFSA’s Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) analyzed 4,731 fruit and vegetable samples to estimate chronic and short-term exposure to perchlorate in the food chain. The report also identified several contamination sources, including natural fertilizers, industrial emissions and chlorine-based products that degrade to perchlorate. According to the CONTAM Panel, which found the highest mean perchlorate concentrations in leafy vegetables and herbs, the average chronic dietary exposure for adults ranged from a minimum lower bound (LB) of 0.03 µg/kg body weight (bw) per day to a maximum upper bound…
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report assessing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) current approach to Salmonella and Campylobacter in chicken and turkey products and recommending that the agriculture secretary direct the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to take steps to improve the approach. The report reviews past USDA action on these pathogens, including the establishment of standards limiting Campylobacter contamination and the tightening of existing Salmonella contamination standards. GAO recommended that the agriculture secretary direct FSIS to develop Salmonella and Campylobacter performance measures to monitor whether efforts to bring processing plants into compliance with the poultry products standards are meeting the agency’s goals. GAO also recommended that effectiveness measures be included in future revisions of compliance guidelines for controlling the pathogens. According to the report, USDA agrees with the recommendations. Issue 542
