Environmental Statutes and Regulations Archives

For over a year now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been focused on reducing or eliminating ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions from industrial sites, commercial sterilizing facilities, and even hospitals. After a brief extension, the comment period for new proposed Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) regulations closed at the end of June with over 1,000 unique written comments. It is anticipated that EPA is going to take some time to sort through those comments before issuing final rules, which are expected in March 2024. At the same time, EPA has forecasted releasing a proposed rule specific to hospital sterilizers in early 2024.

Next up on EPA’s agenda appears to be warehouses that store products sterilized with EtO. The looming question appears to be “where is your warehouse?” Onsite warehouses are the first to be in EPA’s crosshairs, but in classic agency style they are leaving the option to expand that focus open for the time being. Meanwhile, environmental groups are asking EPA not to wait to expand that focus, and states like California and Georgia are taking matters into their own regulatory hands.

Continue reading “Ethylene Oxide Alert: Where Is Your Warehouse?”

On April 14, 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released draft conclusions in a report updating its analysis regarding formaldehyde exposure, suggesting that long-term exposures to small amounts of formaldehyde in the environment can increase the risk of rare head and neck tumors, leukemia, and other threats to health. The conclusions are not final agency action. Still, manufacturers should be aware of the potential for EPA’s analysis to influence both regulation and litigation at both the state and federal levels.

For over a decade, there has been much debate and study on the long-term effects of exposure to formaldehyde. The EPA’s new analysis is an update of a 2010 draft EPA report that was heavily panned by scientists, legislators, and chemical manufacturers and that drove the EPA back to the drawing board. For example, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine criticized the 2010 draft EPA report for failing to describe the rationale behind its methodology and failing to sufficiently support its conclusions.

Continue reading “Updated EPA Analysis on Long-Term Health Effects of Formaldehyde Exposure Could Have Lasting Implications for Manufacturers”