The Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement with INEOS Chlor Americas of Wilmington, Del., to resolve violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). EPA said INEOS imported chain-length chlorinated paraffins into the U.S. without providing the required notice to EPA. INEOS agreed to end the imports. Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said: "With this settlement we have removed all known major sources of this chemical from the marketplace." INEOS also agreed to provide the notices required by TSCA Section 5 to the EPA for any medium or long-chain chlorinated paraffin it wishes to import, and to pay a $175,000 civil penalty. The settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court for Delaware, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.

The Environmental Protection Agency is promulgating significant new use rules under the Toxic Substances Control Act for 25 chemical substances which were the subject of premanufacture notices, it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Aug. 15. The rules require those who intend to manufacture, import, or process any of these 25 chemical substances for an activity that is designated as a significant new use by this rule to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing that activity, giving the EPA the opportunity to evaluate the intended use and, if necessary, to prohibit or limit it. A list of the chemicals and the reason for the rule on each is in the Federal Register notice (here). The new rule is effective Oct. 15. Written adverse or critical comments, or notice of intent to submit adverse or critical comments, on one or more of the SNURs must be received by Sept. 15. They should be submitted to docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2012-0450, via http://www.regulations.gov, or by mail to Document Control Office (7407M), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-0001. Additional information: 202-554-1404 or TSCA-Hotline@epa.gov.

Environmental Protection Agency said it forwarded to the Secretary of Agriculture a draft final rule revising regulations on the labeling of pesticide products and devices intended solely for export. The draft final rule is not available to the public until after it has been signed by EPA. Docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0607 is available at http://www.regulations.gov. Further information: Vera Au, 703-308-9069 or au.vera@epa.gov.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the first-ever Microbial Risk Assessment Guideline. The new guideline sets out an overall approach to doing meaningful assessments of the risks posed by pathogens in food and water. Formal risk assessments for food, water, and environmentally-relevant chemicals have been undertaken for decades, but an overall microbial risk assessment guideline has not been available.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it's finalizing significant new use rules under the Toxic Substances Control Act for the chemical substances rutile, tin zinc, calciumdoped (CAS No. 389623-01-2) and rutile, tin zinc, sodium-doped (CAS No. 389623-07-8), which were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMNs P-06-36 and P-06-37) and a TSCA consent order issued by EPA.

The EPA is finalizing a significant new use rule (SNUR) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for phenol, 2,4-dimethyl-6-(1-methylpentadecyl)- (PMN P-94-209; CAS No. 134701-20-5). That means persons planning to manufacture, import or process the chemical substance for a purpose identified as a significant new by the rule must notify the EPA at least 90 days in advance. The notification would enable the EPA to evaluate the substance’s intended use and, if necessary, prohibit or limit that activity before it occurs, the agency said. Responding to public comments, the EPA has included some exemptions, including when the substance’s presence in a mixture is less than 1 percent. There’s also an exemption from all requirements of the rule, including record keeping, once the PMN substance has been incorporated into polymer matrices. The final rule will go into effect August 15.

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public comment on a draft document titled, “Nanomaterial Case Study: A Comparison of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes and Decabromodiphenyl Ether Flame-Retardant Coatings Applied to Upholstery Textiles” (EPA/600/R-12/043A). The document, being issued by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD), does not draw conclusions regarding potential environmental risks or hazards of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), the agency said. Rather, it aims to identify what is known and unknown about MWCNT to support future assessment efforts. The draft document is not final as described in EPA’s information quality guidelines, and “it does not represent and should not be construed to represent Agency policy or views,” it said. EPA will hold a public information exchange meeting on October 29 to address questions on the draft. Comments on the draft are due August 30. A copy of the draft can be accessed here.

The EPA is increasing the tolerance for residues for cyflufenamid in several commodities. In a final rule published in the Federal Register, the agency slightly increased the tolerances for pome fruit (Crop Group 11), 0.05 ppm to 0.06 ppm, and cucurbits (Crop Group 9), 0.05 to 0.07 ppm. The regulation is effective June 27 and requests for hearing must be made before August 27, the agency said. The regulation affects those engaged in crop production, animal production, food manufacturing and pesticide manufacturing. In making its tolerance decisions, EPA seeks to harmonize U.S. tolerances with international standards whenever possible, it said. EPA considers the international maximum residue limits (MRLs) established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, but Codex has not established a MRL for cyflufenamid, it said.

The EPA issued a final rule establishing tolerances for residues of propiconazole in multiple commodities. The rule also removes an established tolerance on stone fruit crop group 12, as it will be superseded by the new tolerance for stone fruit crop group 12, except plum, the agency said. Interregional Research Project Number 4 (IR-4) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The regulation is effective June 27 and requests for hearings must be filed before August 27. The EPA considers the international maximum residue limits (MRLs) established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), it said. The Codex has not established an MRL for propiconazole for any of the commodities covered by the final rule, the agency said.

Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the following voluntary recalls: