B&C® Biobased and Sustainable Chemicals Blog

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold training on May 23, 2023, on Generalized Read-Across (GenRA), a publicly available tool that uses an automated approach to make reproducible read-across predictions of toxicity. EPA states that read-across “is a commonly used data gap filling technique whereby endpoint information for one substance is used to predict the same endpoint for another substance, supported by structural or other feature similarities.” According to EPA,...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   As part of the National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced in September 2022 an investment of $1.2 billion in bioindustrial domestic manufacturing infrastructure to catalyze the establishment of a domestic bioindustrial manufacturing base accessible to U.S. innovators. As reported in our March 30, 2023, blog item, on March 22, 2023, DOD released its Biomanufacturing Strategy to guide these...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton As reported in our March 30, 2023, blog item, on March 22, 2023, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a new report, Bold Goals for U.S. Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing: Harnessing Research and Development to Further Societal Goals. The report includes five sections, each presenting goals that highlight what could be possible with the power of biology. The goals set ambitious national targets...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   To celebrate its 125th anniversary, ASTM International invited case study submissions from committee members to highlight standards that have made a significant impact in society. One of the winning entries is on a set of standards for biodegradable plastic from Committee D20 on Plastics. According to ASTM International’s article, standard test methods for determining the biobased content of solid, liquid, and gaseous samples using radiocarbon...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   As reported in our September 13, 2022, blog item, President Joseph Biden signed an Executive Order (EO) on September 12, 2022, creating a National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative “that will ensure we can make in the United States all that we invent in the United States.” On March 22, 2023, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) published a fact sheet announcing “new...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   On March 27, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that its Safer Choice program is accepting submissions for its 2023 Safer Choice Partner of the Year Awards. 88 Fed. Reg. 18135. The Safer Choice program certifies products containing ingredients that have met the program’s specific and rigorous human health and environmental toxicological criteria. According to EPA, the Safer Choice program allows companies to use...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has posted the justification for its fiscal year (FY) 2024 appropriation estimates for the Committee on Appropriations (Congressional Justification (CJ)). According to the CJ, work in the Pollution Prevention (P2) Program supports Objective 7.2: Promote Pollution Prevention (P2) under Goal 7: Ensure Safety of Chemicals for People and the Environment. The FY 2024 budget includes $29 million and 69.2...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on March 23, 2023, the availability of a draft guide detailing the information requirements and process for submitting permit applications for microorganisms developed using genetic engineering. The draft Guide for Submitting Permit Applications for Microorganisms Developed Using Genetic Engineering under 7 CFR Part 340 is intended to assist developers with preparing a...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced on March 23, 2023, the availability of a draft guide detailing the information requirements and process for submitting permit applications for microorganisms developed using genetic engineering. The draft Guide for Submitting Permit Applications for Microorganisms Developed Using Genetic Engineering under 7 CFR Part 340 is intended to...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton   That National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) hosted an October 2022 workshop on successes and challenges in biomanufacturing. The workshop brought together biomanufacturing stakeholders across industry, academia, and government with expertise across diverse fields, including United States-based and international speakers. According to NASEM, discussions spanned the breadth of biomanufacturing contexts and applications,...