EPA announced they will require registration of products containing nanoscale silver that are designed to control microbes. The agency indicated it would not immediately act against unregistered products, such as socks, now sold in the U.S. http://1.usa.gov/1GEPZy9

EPA separately proposed a one-time requirement for makers of nanoscale commercial chemicals currently on the market to notify the agency about all available health and safety data for their products. Under this proposal, these manufacturers would also have to submit production volume and processing, use, exposure, and release information to EPA. http://www.epa.gov/

The ELAP program transitioned from the California Department of Public Health to the California State Water Resources Control Board in July 2014, and an Expert Review Panel has been formed to undertake a comprehensive review of the accreditation process. Presentations from a meeting held March 17-19 have been posted.

http://www.sccwrp.org/elap

Clarifications Issued on New CLP Statements of Work

EPA’s Contract Laboratory Program has posted two documents that have minor clarifications related to the new draft SOWs ISM02.2 and SOM02.2. The most significant change is lowering the quantitation limit for 2-nitroanaline by a factor of 2.

EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) has redesigned their Analytical Methods and Procedures for Pesticides website to make it more user-friendly and easier for visitors to quickly find information, regardless of the device used.

http://www.epa.gov/

The EPA Contract Laboratory Program (CLP) uses the Electronic Data Evaluation and Exchange Software (EXES) tool for automated data review and evaluation. EXES can be used to automatically identify potential data quality and usability issues, thus reducing the time necessary for manual data validation. A webinar will be held on May 24 to provide an overview of data validation, and outline ways that project managers, data validators, or end data users can incorporate EXES into their monitoring projects to increase efficiency and lower costs. http://clu-in.org/live/