The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency have announced that they have signed an agreement which outlines the principles by which DTSC and U.S. EPA will cooperate to reduce toxic chemicals in consumer products, create new business opportunities in the emerging safer consumer products economy, and reduce the burden on consumers and businesses struggling to identify what’s in the products they buy for their families and customers. The agreement will also allow both agencies to minimize duplicated efforts and promote consistency, as well as harmonize the common tools and practices used to conduct alternative assessments to promote safer products.
On January 17, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
On January 13, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) and the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition are sponsoring a Dietetics and Nutrition Webinar on March 5 and 6, 2012, from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The Webinar is designed for dietetic interns, students and faculty in dietetics and nutrition, and practitioners in dietetics, nutrition and other professional areas. Other interested parties may also participate. The purpose of the webinar is to communicate FDA’s nutrition and regulatory activities that are relevant to the practice of nutrition and dietetics. Topics include food labeling, updating the nutrition facts panel, front of pack labeling, dietary guidance statements, infant formula regulations, medical foods, food ingredient safety, regulatory program for chemical contaminants in foods, dietary supplements, adverse events reporting and consumer research and education.
The Food and Drug Administration began on January 13, 2012 to issue weekly Friday updates on its testing and policies for imported and domestic orange juice products that may be contaminated with the fungicide Carbendazim. With respect to imports, FDA states it is sampling import shipments of orange juice products from all sources, and has notified the Brazilian government (as industry reports that Brazil uses this chemical on oranges, while the U.S. does not).
The Food and Drug Administration is announcing a January 18, 2012 "Basics" Webinar on reporting adverse events related to cosmetics. The event will occur at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Interdisciplinary Scientist Wendy Good and Policy Fellow Jon Hicks, of FDA's Office of Cosmetics and Colors, will provide information on how FDA regulates cosmetics and monitors their safety, ways to reduce risks to consumers, how to report a bad reaction to a cosmetic, and how this information helps FDA in its public health mission. They will also talk about steps consumers can take to minimize the chances of having a bad reaction to a cosmetic.
On January 11, 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement of $680,000 with recreational vehicle manufacturers, Loncin (USA), Inc., Longting USA LLC, and Chongqing Longting Power Equipment Co., Ltd. (respondents), to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) related to the importation of 7,115 uncertified recreational vehicles into the U.S.
On January 12, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Food and Drug Administration issued its weekly Enforcement Report for January 11, 2012 that lists the status of recalls and field corrections for food, drugs, biologics, and devices. The report covers both domestic and foreign firms.
On January 9, 2012, the Food and Drug Administration sent a letter to the orange juice processing industry informing it that FDA is sampling import shipments of orange juice and will deny entry to shipments that test positive for the fungicide carbendazim.