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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><a href="http://www.bna.com/epa-releases-alternatives-n17179881828/">http://www.bna.com/epa-releases-alternatives-n17179881828/</a></span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font size="5" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold">EPA Releases Alternatives Analysis for Thermal Paper, Flame
Retardant Chemicals<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Monday, February 3, 2014<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">from
<a href="http://www.bna.com/chemical-regulation-reporter-p4750/"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">Chemical Regulation Reporter ®</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext"><a href="javascript:void(0);"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">inShare</span></font></a>1
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><i><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext;font-style:italic">By
</span></font></i><font color="black"><span style="color:windowtext"><a href="mailto:prizzuto@bna.com"><i><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue;font-style:italic">Pat Rizzuto</span></font></i></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Jan. 30 — The Environmental Protection Agency has released two alternatives assessments
to help companies that want to choose chemicals to substitute for <a href="http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/bpa/bpa-report-complete.pdf">
<font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">bisphenol A</span></font></a> in thermal paper and decabromodiphenyl ether (<a href="http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/decaBDE/deca-report-complete.pdf"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">decaBDE</span></font></a>)
as a fire retardant for plastic. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The goal of both analyses is to provide information about potential health and
environmental hazards the chemicals and possible substitutes pose, the agency said.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The assessments should help companies that are looking for alternatives make
choices and reduce their risk of having to repeat the process because an initially selected alternative doesn't work, the EPA said.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The documents also may help states or other regulators examining information
a company has submitted in its own alternatives analysis. Some states, such as California, are requiring these types of analyses.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The EPA's Design for the Environment program assembled diverse parties who brought
different information, expertise and perspectives to each analysis. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font size="1" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold">DecaBDE<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">For decaBDE, these participants included chemical, aerospace, automotive, electronics
and textile manufacturers; the International Association of Fire Chiefs; environmental health organizations; recycling companies; and state and local government officials.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The decaBDE analysis provided information for 29 chemicals and chemical mixtures.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“Chemicals were selected for evaluation based on their potential as substitutes
for decaBDE, not because they are expected to be safer than decaBDE,” the EPA said.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The 901-page analysis provided detailed information that showed trade-offs.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">For example, decaBDE scored low for genotoxicity, moderate for carcinogenicity,
high for developmental toxicity and very high for persistence. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Companies making flame-retardant products want chemicals that don't degrade so
that the protection continues throughout a product's lifetime, the EPA said. Persistence in the environment, however, can pose a concern.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Some of the alternatives were readily biodegradable but toxic to the aquatic
environment, the EPA said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font size="1" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold">Bisphenol A<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">A minor use of bisphenol A is to help make paper receipts such as grocery receipts
without carbon paper. The analysis said, however, that this particular use could result in higher exposure than some other BPA applications would.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The partnership that examined alternatives to bisphenol A in thermal paper included
paper manufacturers, companies making equipment for thermal paper, chemical manufacturers, retailers, trade associations, scientific experts, environmental health organizations and international governmental organizations.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The 519-page analysis of bisphenol A examined 19 possible alternatives.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“No clearly safer alternatives to BPA were identified in this report—most alternatives
have moderate or high hazard designations for human health or aquatic toxicity endpoints,” the analysis said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The partnership found that three of the 20 chemicals (BPA and the 19 alternatives)
scored low or very low in their potential to persist in the environment, and 11 had high or very high persistence values.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Two had a high potential to bioaccumulate.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Kathryn St. John, a spokeswoman for the American Chemistry Council's North American
Flame Retardant Alliance, said that panel is pleased to see the EPA has completed its alternatives assessment of decaBDE, which U.S. manufacturers already have stopped making or importing.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“EPA's alternatives assessment will be helpful to our customers as they consider
alternatives that will provide their customers with the same level of fire protection,” St. John said.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font size="1" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold">DecaBDE Phase Out<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Key reasons for substituting either chemical differ. DecaBDE production is being
phased out in the U.S. and restricted in some states and regions.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">U.S. manufacturers of decaBDE are phasing that chemical out of production under
a voluntary agreement the EPA announced in 2009. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">Some states, such as Maine and Washington, have imposed restrictions on the uses
of decaBDE.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The European Union has restricted the use of decaBDE in electrical and electronic
equipment under its Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">By contrast, bisphenol A remains a high production volume chemical, produced
at an estimated volume of 2.4 billion pounds in 2007, the EPA's analysis said. It had an estimated value of almost $2 billion in 2010, the agency said.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">However, in 2010 the EPA issued an action plan for bisphenol A. That plan said
bisphenol A is a reproductive, developmental and systemic toxicant in animal studies and is weakly estrogenic.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><font size="1" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;color:windowtext;font-weight:bold">Questions About Impact<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">“There are questions about its potential impact, particularly on children's health
and the environment,” the agency said. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The agency's action plan said it would organize partnerships to explore alternatives
to bisphenol A's use in thermal paper coatings, its use to make materials that line water and wastewater pipes and its use in foundry castings. Foundries are accountable for large releases of BPA as reported under the Toxic Release Inventory, the EPA said.
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The BPA thermal paper alternatives assessment is the first of those three analyses
to be completed. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">To contact the reporter on this story: Pat Rizzuto in Washington at
<a href="mailto:prizzuto@bna.com"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">prizzuto@bna.com</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Pearl at
<a href="mailto:lpearl@bna.com"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">lpearl@bna.com</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><font size="3" color="black" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:windowtext">The decaBDE and bisphenol A analyses are available at
<a href="http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/index.htm"><font color="blue"><span style="color:blue">http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/index.htm</span></font></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Deborah L. DeBiasi</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;font-weight:bold">Email: Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov</span></font></b><b><i><font size="2" color="red"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:red;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic"><br>
</span></font></i></b><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">WEB site address:
<a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/">www.deq.virginia.gov</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Virginia Department of Environmental Quality</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Office of Water Permits
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><a href="http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx">http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/PermittingCompliance/PollutionDischargeElimination/Microconstituents.aspx</a></span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Mail: P.O. Box 1105, Richmond, VA 23218</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">Location: 629 E. Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:navy"><br>
</span></font><font size="2" color="navy"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:navy">PH: 804-698-4028 FAX: 804-698-4032<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000099" face="Times New Roman"><o:p> </o:p></font></p>
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