Opportunities and limitations of bioplastics

11th European Bioplastics conference in Berlin, Germany discusses the role of bioplastics in the circular economy, presents new food packaging applications

Towards a non-toxic future

Danish Ministry holds expert stakeholder workshop to discuss chemical policy; presentations available online; recommendations made for EU Commission

ILSI NA workshop on FCMs

Videos of presentations and panel discussions held at ILSI North America workshop on safety evaluation of FCMs in September 2016 are now available online

EPA announces 10 chemicals under evaluation

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publishes first list of chemicals to be assessed under the modernized Toxic Substances Control Act; 8 of 10 chemicals have history of use in food contact materials

Opposing ‘merchants of doubt’ on EDC science

Scientists condemn the use of strategies for manufacturing doubt, previously employed to delay protective actions on tobacco use and climate change, and now turned against science on endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs); call upon Europe and the world to act on EDCs

Hazard- vs. risk-based chemicals management

Hazard-based approaches are criticized and risk-based management of chemicals is pushed for in Europe; doing so would weaken the protection of public health, International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec) explains

BPA-free can linings: Presentations and videos online

Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry publishes 15 video segments and 7 slide presentations from symposium on BPA-free can linings

U.S. funds long-term studies of environmental impacts on children’s health

U.S. NIH initiates ECHO, 7-year program to study the effects of environmental exposures on children’s health; NIEHS launches CHEAR enabling more NIH scientists who study children’s health to add exposure measures to their research

EU court decides on access to environmental information

European Court of Justice decision strengthens public access to data about chemical emissions into the environment; industry association worries about confidentiality of business information

Harmonized legislation for glass packaging

European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) calls upon the European Commission to develop harmonized legislation for glass as food packaging material