California identifies candidate substance groups

Department of Toxic Substances Control announces candidate groups of substances used in food packaging to be priority products under Safe Consumer Products program; includes BPA and alternatives, PFAS, and ortho-phthalates; two additional workshops scheduled in November and January to discuss chemicals, answer open questions

FPF Workshop 2019: FCM oversight in Denmark

Mette Holm gives overview of approaches to FCM inspection and control by Danish Ministry of Environment and Food; latest monitoring study on PFAS in paper and board FCMs still finds intentional addition of PFAS; Denmark bans PFAS in paper and board FCM from 2020

Consumer exposure to PFAS in food packaging

Silent Spring Institute publishes report investigating PFAS exposure, finds consuming home-cooked meals reduces exposure compared to restaurant consumption; U.S. state of Washington to focus on paper wraps and liners during alternatives assessment; U.S. presidential candidate pledges to label substance class as hazardous substances

U.S. authorities’, CHEM Trust’s recent efforts on PFAS

U.S. EPA submits proposals for significant new use rule for long-chain PFAS, additions to toxics release inventory; Connecticut PFAS task force publishes draft action plan, proposes to evaluate requiring disclosure of PFAS in products; CHEM Trust publishes briefing on PFAS calling for urgent action on the entire family of chemicals

HEAL publishes infographics on FCMs

New series of infographics by the Health and Environmental Alliance focuses on presence of chemicals in food contact materials, toxicity, plastics, and health effects; launched in connection with the Plastic Health Summit on October 3, 2019

National Academy of Sciences PFAS workshop

Two-day workshop on October 26th and 27th, 2019 in Washington, D.C. to explore human exposure to PFAS as well as control and prevention options; registration free of charge and open to the public; event will be live streamed and recorded for later viewing

U.S. grocer plans packaging chemical restrictions

Ahold Delhaize USA to restrict chemicals of concern from private label products across all stores; targets chemicals including PFAS, BPA, phthalates; plans to increase testing to ensure compliance and partner with suppliers to identify contamination sources

Biomonitoring of environmental chemicals, plastics

New French biomonitoring study measures levels of bisphenols, phthalates, PFAS in adults and children; German biomonitoring study finds plastic byproducts in 97% of children’s urine samples

Concern over data gaps for fluorotelomers

Feature article by Chemical Watch reviews ongoing scientific and regulatory discussions concerning uncertainties and data gaps to describe presence and toxicity of fluorotelomer breakdown products; widespread use in food packaging increasing scrutiny of the issue

OECD webinar on PFAS alternatives

Webinar will present efforts to eliminate per and polyfluoroalkyl substances from consumer products, feature presentations from W.L. Gore & Associates