The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently added 11 new substances to its Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substances (FCS) Notifications. The newly listed substances and the manufacturers are listed below.

A New York federal judge ruled in favor of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concerning the agency’s denial of a citizen petition to revoke the Threshold of Regulation (TOR) exemption allowing the inclusion of perchlorate in plastic food-contact articles.

California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a second notice of modification to the proposed amendments limiting the availability of short-form warnings under Proposition 65.

A recently introduced bill in New Jersey (Bill S2145/A1554) would prohibit the sale, distribution, and import of certain products and packaging marked as recyclable, unless the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) determines that the products are widely recycled.

California Assembly Bill (A.B.) 2787 would ban the sale or distribution of designated products (including certain cosmetics, detergents, waxes and polishes) in California if the products contain intentionally added microplastics.

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) recommended that the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) establish a notification level (NL) for perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) at 2 parts per trillion (PPT), or the lowest level at which it can be reliably detected in drinking water using currently available and appropriate technologies.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction to temporarily bar new lawsuits challenging Proposition 65 warnings for acrylamide in food and beverages. The preliminary injunction was issued on March 29, 2021 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. It granted the California Chamber of Commerce’s (CalChamber) request to temporarily bar the state and any private litigants from enforcing Proposition 65 against businesses that do not warn consumers that acrylamide in food products is known to the State of California to cause cancer.

The Consolidated Appropriation Act, 2022 (H.R.2471) was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 15, 2022. The $1.5 trillion omnibus appropriations bill will fund the government through FY 2022.  Of significance, the bill does not include a line item ensuring funding for the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Food Contact Notification (FCN) program.

The California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has selected bisphenol S (BPS) for review by the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee (DARTIC) for possible listing under Proposition 65.