Austrian Presidency and EU Commission host conference on European Human Biomonitoring Initiative, September 28, 2018 in Vienna; registration open until June 30, 2018
ENVI committee adopts resolution on chemicals strategy
Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee of European Parliament passes resolution calling for upcoming chemicals strategy to fully apply precautionary and polluter-pays principles; resulting legislation should address and minimize endocrine disrupting and other hazardous chemicals in products including food packaging and recycled materials
Decontamination of recycled polyolefins
Scientists review decontamination of recycled polyolefins, compare it to PET; existing processes need re-examination using high molecular weight surrogate contaminants
EU Commission solicits comments on draft REACH update requirements
European Commission draft implementing regulations specifies when registrants should update REACH dossiers following changes; public feedback period open until January 15, 2020
UK environment committee calls for bottle deposit system
Environmental Audit Committee of UK parliament demands nation-wide plastic bottle deposit return scheme, more access to free drinking water, increased packaging producer responsibility, and 50% recycled content in plastic bottles
Steep decline in sperm counts of Western men
New study finds 50-60% decline in sperm counts between 1973 and 2011 among men from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand; authors see declining sperm counts as signal of risk to men’s overall health
Industry coalition backs FDA’s GRAS rule
Safe Food Ingredients Coalition advocates for court judgement supporting U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s food additive notification process; responses from plaintiffs due August 23, 2019
Chemical Hazard Data Commons
U.S. NGO Healthy Building Network launches free online resource Chemical Hazard Data Commons aggregating hazard determinations for over 85 000 substances, aimed to facilitate substitution of hazardous chemicals
OECD forum on cost-effective management systems for chemicals
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) event on November 3-4, 2020 to focus on exchanging experiences and knowledge on systems to manage industrial and consumer chemicals; registration open
US FDA updates to food contact inventory since August 2022
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) adds 26 new entries to its Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substance Notifications (FCNs) since August 2022