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Today, the transformation of polymers into useful structures for the human body in medical field has been an interesting subject that affected everyone. Synthetic polymers have a wide range of uses in the health sector such as coating, cardiovascular, orthodontic surgery, tissue engineering, implant, and drug carrier with the development of technology. These polymers are known as polymers with various characteristics and applications artificially synthesized in accordance with chemical and thermodynamic laws. The polymers in health sector have a share of 41% in drug and release studies, 18% in treatment with therapy applications, 10% in vaccine production, 31% in studies on new approaches in this field. Synthetic polymers have ability to be produced cheaply and easily in large quantities. In this study, synthetic polymers such as polyethylene glycol, polyvinyl alcohol, polyurethane, polyolefin, polytetrafluoroethylene, silicone, polyvinyl chloride, poly-methyl methacrylate, polyester, polyamide and poly-lactic acid were investigated and details regarding the applications with explications of polymers were provided. It was seen that synthetic polymers could be evaluated in treatment of cancer and chronic diseases by determining the most appropriate methods and techniques with biocompatible, biodegradable, non-toxic materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corrosion of metals is very important, both economically and environmentally, and is a serious concern. Since the past decades, traditional (chemical) corrosion inhibitors to prevent corrosion have been and are still being used. Although these inhibitors can be said to be a good choice among other protection techniques because of their good efficiency, the toxicity of many of them causes environmental problems, and, due to the change in the laws on the use of chemicals, many of them are no longer allowed. Hence, during the past years, research on green corrosion inhibitors (GCIs) increased and very favorable results were obtained, and now they are very popular. It can be said that biodegradability and easy preparation are their most important factors. Meanwhile, the use of plants, especially their extracts, has been studied a lot. Plant extracts contain compounds that have anti-corrosion properties. In this review, the use of plants as GCIs is investigated, focusing on recent advances in their use. Also, the phenomenon of corrosion, corrosion protection (including coatings, nanoparticles, and chemical inhibitors), and other GCIs are briefly reviewed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, marketing has been influenced by the soft sciences (i.e., economics, psychology, and sociology) and hard sciences (i.e., mathematics and physics). In this study, we discuss the various intersections between chemistry and marketing, and we elaborate on the areas in which chemistry can help develop marketing from both theoretical and practical perspectives. In doing so, we do not intend to assert definitive conclusions or provide substantial scientific evidence but instead to introduce a new interdisciplinary research area that we call the chemistry of marketing and highlight its potential areas of application and some future research directions. To establish the initial scientific bridge between marketing and chemistry, we rely on: 1) metaphors which as figures of speech have long been used in the development of marketing science and 2) the general systems theory which is recognized as a prevailing form of generalization. Moreover, we provide a novel explanation of closed and isolated marketing systems, present initial evidence on their emerging importance in the business world, and offer some suggestions for their potential application to the first and second laws of chemical thermodynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the joint submission of dossier GMFF‐2022‐9170 under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 from Bayer Agriculture B.V. and Corteva Agriscience Belgium B.V., the Panel on genetically modified organisms of the European Food Safety Authority was asked to deliver a scientific risk assessment on the data submitted in the context of the renewal of authorisation application for the herbicide tolerant and insect resistant genetically modified maize MON 89034 × 1507 × MON 88017 × 59122 and 8 out of 10 of its subcombinations, for food and feed uses, excluding cultivation within the European Union. The data received in the context of this renewal application contained post‐market environmental monitoring reports, an evaluation of the literature retrieved by a scoping review, a search for additional studies performed by or on behalf of the applicant and updated bioinformatics analyses. The GMO Panel assessed these data for possible new hazards, modified exposure or new scientific uncertainties identified during the authorisation period and not previously assessed in the context of the original application. Under the assumption that the DNA sequences of the events in maize MON 89034 × 1507 × MON 88017 × 59122 and 8 out of 10 of its subcombinations considered for renewal are identical to the sequences of the originally assessed events, the GMO Panel concludes that there is no evidence in renewal dossier GMFF‐2022‐9170 for new hazards, modified exposure or scientific uncertainties that would change the conclusions of the original risk assessment on maize MON 89034 × 1507 × MON 88017 × 59122 and 8 out of 10 of its subcombinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the submission of dossier GMFF‐2022‐3670 under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 from Corteva Agriscience Belgium BV and Bayer Agriculture BV, the Panel on genetically modified organisms of the European Food Safety Authority was asked to deliver a scientific risk assessment on the data submitted in the context of the renewal of authorisation application for the herbicide‐tolerant and insect‐resistant genetically modified maize MON 89034 × 1507 × NK603, for food and feed uses, excluding cultivation within the European Union. The data received in the context of this renewal application contained post‐market environmental monitoring reports, a systematic search and evaluation of literature, updated bioinformatic analyses and a search for additional documents or studies performed by or on behalf of the applicant. The GMO Panel assessed these data for possible new hazards, modified exposure or new scientific uncertainties identified during the authorisation period and not previously assessed in the context of the original application. Under the assumption that the DNA sequences of the events in maize MON 89034 × 1507 × NK603 considered for renewal are identical to the sequences of the originally assessed events, the GMO Panel concludes that there is no evidence in renewal dossier GMFF‐2022‐3670 for new hazards, modified exposure or scientific uncertainties that would change the conclusions of the original risk assessment on maize MON 89034 × 1507 × NK603. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benchmark dose (BMD) methodology has been employed as a default dose–response modeling approach to determine the toxicity value of chemicals to support regulatory chemical risk assessment. Especially, a relatively standardized BMD analysis framework has been established for modeling toxicological data regarding the formats of input data, dose–response models, definitions of benchmark response, and model uncertainty consideration. However, the BMD approach has not been well developed for epidemiological data mainly because of the diverse designs of epidemiological studies and various formats of data reported in the literature. Although most of the epidemiological BMD analyses were developed to solve a particular question, the methods proposed in two recent studies are able to handle cohort and case–control studies using summary data with consideration of adjustments for confounders. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to investigate and compare the "effective count"‐based BMD modeling approach and adjusted relative risk (RR)‐based BMD analysis approach to identify an appropriate BMD modeling framework that can be generalized for analyzing published data of prospective cohort studies for BMD analysis. The two methods were applied to the same set of studies that investigated the association between bladder and lung cancer and inorganic arsenic exposure for BMD estimation. The results suggest that estimated BMDs and BMDLs are relatively consistent; however, with the consideration of established common practice in BMD analysis, modeling adjusted RR values as continuous data for BMD estimation is a more generalizable approach harmonized with the BMD approach using toxicological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the submission of dossier GMFF‐2022‐9450 under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 from Bayer Agriculture BV, the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of the European Food Safety Authority was asked to deliver a scientific risk assessment on the data submitted in the context of the renewal of authorisation application for the insect protected genetically modified maize MON 810, for food and feed uses (including pollen), excluding cultivation within the European Union. The data received in the context of this renewal application contained post‐market environmental monitoring reports, an evaluation of the literature retrieved by a scoping review, additional studies performed by or on behalf of the applicant and updated bioinformatics analyses. The GMO Panel assessed these data for possible new hazards, modified exposure or new scientific uncertainties identified during the authorisation period and not previously assessed in the context of the original application. Under the assumption that the DNA sequence of the event in maize MON 810 considered for renewal is identical to the sequence of the originally assessed event, the GMO Panel concludes that there is no evidence in dossier GMFF‐2022‐9450 for new hazards, modified exposure or scientific uncertainties that would change the conclusions of the original risk assessment on maize MON 810. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The presented article is empirical in nature and deals with the issue of human resource management in the mining work environment in the face of health risks for workers exposed to the harmful effects of coal mine dust at the workplace. Its purpose is to draw the attention of the management of coal mines in Poland to the growing problem of the increase in the incidence of pneumoconiosis among miners and the obligations that fall on the employer and management in connection with the need to fulfill the provisions of Article 207 of the Labour Code (Labour Code) and the changing European legislation (Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2017/2398 of December 12, 2017). The article presents the results of a health study of miners employed in the mining divisions of mine X exposed to the risk of harmful dusts and SiO2 chemicals contained in mine dust. The impetus for the study in question was the increasing incidence of occupational diseases among workers in Polish coal mines in recent years, among which new cases of pneumoconiosis predominated. In 2022, pneumoconiosis of miners accounted for 92.1% of all diagnosable occupational diseases in the PKD's economic activity section B - mining and quarrying. The second factor prompting the research topic was the amendment of the regulation on chemicals, their mixtures, agents or technological processes with carcinogenic or mutagenic effects in the work environment introduced on January 24, 2020, including crystalline silica - the respirable fraction formed during work - among the agents with carcinogenic or mutagenic effects. Design/methodology/approach: A study of the assessment of the prevailing dust hazard and the frequency of respiratory lesions among workers in the mining departments of mine X exposed to the harmful effects of mine dust as a by-product of the manufacturing process was carried out using the following methods: individual dosimetry, infrared spectrometry, directional interview, diagnostic tests and spirometry. Findings: The results made it possible to identify the workplaces with the highest exposure to harmful effects of coal dust and to recognize the effects of this action in the form of respiratory lesions in 28.6% of the miners of mine X examined, who had not previously reported health complaints. Research limitations/implications: Health examinations of coal mine workers are a sensitive issue and one that is reluctantly raised by mine management, union organizations and the workers themselves. The inadequacy of Polish legislation, which, in the event of the diagnosis of symptoms of an occupational disease, guarantees an employee to keep his or her previous salary as a result of transfer to another job for only 6 months (Article 230 of the Labor Code), causes employees to hide their health status until they are eligible for retirement and are reluctant to undergo earlier diagnostic examinations. The condition for making the data available for the purposes of the above article was to guarantee the complete anonymity of the subjects and the workplace, which is in line with the policy of the Silesian University of Technology, which guarantees the anonymity of the data obtained in circular letters addressed to the Mining Companies. Practical implications: Recognized new cases of pneumoconiosis incidence among surveyed employees of mining divisions indicated the necessity of changing the current approach of employers and managers to the issue of measuring harmful factors at workplaces and the necessity of expanding preventive examinations of miners to include capillary blood gasometry, peripheral blood morphology, low-dose high-resolution computed tomography allowing scrinig of lung cancer. The proper approach of mine management and health and safety services to miners' health issues should improve the financial condition of mining companies and mines by reducing the occupational morbidity of the protection of employees, who are the pillar of the company's efficiency. Social implications: A review of the literature and the results obtained show that the problem of the incidence of pneumoconiosis among coal mine miners not only in Poland is again a growing social problem, resulting in an increase in occupational morbidity rates and incurred social costs related to the loss of physical ability to perform work by miners and the need for their treatment. On the other hand, the consequences of long-term exposure of workers to harmful factors leads to occupational diseases, the consequence of which is often a change of job and loss of part of the workers' wages, so it would be advisable to consider public consultations in this area in order to develop new legal regulations to increase worker protection. Originality/value: The article is directed to the management of coal mines and health and safety services. It presents the results of environmental measurements and diagnostic tests of miners carried out in real time, to which access is difficult. In addition, the article presents solutions for early diagnosis of respiratory health disorders and better management of human resources and protection of miners' health as a superior value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a description of the information modeling system for the distribution of hot blast and natural gas through the tuyeres of a blast furnace. The developed system is distinguished by considering the main physical and chemical laws and ongoing processes in the control object. The system is based on the method of determining the blast flow through the air tuyeres using the thermal power of the flow passing through the tuyere and the value of the heat removal taken from this tuyere. Based on the calculation results, the system determines the main parameters of the blast mode of the blast furnace and the parameters of individual tuyere hearths, including the theoretical combustion temperature, the blast velocity from the tuyere, the kinetic energy of the blast, the length of the oxygen and carbon dioxide combustion zones of the tuyere hearth, and others. The required natural gas consumption through the blast furnace tuyeres is calculated, which ensures the maintenance of the theoretical combustion temperature in the blast furnace tuyeres at a given level in the design mode. The architecture of the software is described, the characteristics of the modules are presented, and its operation is illustrated. The developed software can be used by the technological personnel of the blast-furnace process to improve the efficiency of blast-furnace smelting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conjugated QSPR models for reactions integrate fundamental chemical laws expressed by mathematical equations with machine learning algorithms. Herein we present a methodology for building conjugated QSPR models integrated with the Arrhenius equation. Conjugated QSPR models were used to predict kinetic characteristics of cycloaddition reactions related by the Arrhenius equation: rate constant logk ${{\rm l}{\rm o}{\rm g}k}$ , pre‐exponential factor logA ${{\rm l}{\rm o}{\rm g}A}$ , and activation energy Ea ${{E}_{{\rm a}}}$. They were benchmarked against single‐task (individual and equation‐based models) and multi‐task models. In individual models, all characteristics were modeled separately, while in multi‐task models logk ${{\rm l}{\rm o}{\rm g}k}$ , logA ${{\rm l}{\rm o}{\rm g}A}$ and Ea ${{E}_{{\rm a}}}$ were treated cooperatively. An equation‐based model assessed logk ${{\rm l}{\rm o}{\rm g}k}$ using the Arrhenius equation and logA ${{\rm l}{\rm o}{\rm g}A}$ and Ea ${{E}_{{\rm a}}}$ values predicted by individual models. It has been demonstrated that the conjugated QSPR models can accurately predict the reaction rate constants at extreme temperatures, at which reaction rate constants hardly can be measured experimentally. Also, in the case of small training sets conjugated models are more robust than related single‐task approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This piece addresses Case C-458/19 P before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) concerning a substance of long-term exposure, namely bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). The case concerned the interplay of two complex procedures of European chemical law, namely: the procedure for authorising the use of a substance listed in Annex XIV of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH Regulation); and the procedure for listing a substance in Annex XIV of the REACH Regulation on the basis of its intrinsic properties as a substance of very high concern for the risks it poses, or may pose, to human and environmental health. The significance of this judgment is that it provides a better understanding of how Article 60(4) of the REACH Regulation is interpreted in an analogous manner in relation to other provisions of the same Regulation. Whether DEHP is a question of reproductive toxicity (Article 57(c) of the REACH Regulation) or endocrine-disrupting properties (Article 57(f) of the REACH Regulation), this judgment offers insights into the limits of the CJEU's willingness and/or ability to use a teleological approach to interpret legislation in this area. Furthermore, this work supports the possibility of applying the principle of intergenerational equity to issues related to long-term exposure such as this one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organismal biology (OrgBio) comprises the diversity, structures, and functions of all organisms from bacteria to humans. Arguably, OrgBio is often the most poorly taught and least conceptually rigorous section of the introductory biology sequence offered at most U.S. institutions of higher education. This article reports on the successful implementation of conceptual and pedagogical reforms in an introductory OrgBio course offered at a large public university. Conceptual reforms were based on a theoretical framework consisting of universal physical and chemical laws, deep molecular homologies, and diverse structure–function relationships. Pedagogical reforms involved the development of group active engagements (GAEs) that were designed to encourage students to develop their abilities to engage in principles-based reasoning. A new model for characterizing different approaches toward principles-based reasoning in biology was developed to analyze these GAEs. Two surveys indicated that OrgBio students developed more favorable perceptions about the effectiveness of GAE-based course offerings, as compared to similar lecture-based versions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as "forever chemicals," have been used in various industries since the 1940s and can be found in consumer products and the environment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognizes the health risks associated with certain PFAS and has taken steps to regulate them. There are ongoing efforts to establish drinking water limits and designate PFAS as hazardous substances. Congress has introduced bills to regulate PFAS and provide funding for research and remediation. Litigation related to PFAS contamination has been ongoing since the late 1990s, with recent settlements reached in cases involving water supply contamination. However, some states have opposed these settlements. Litigation also continues regarding PFAS contamination in food packaging and cosmetic products. PFAS regulation and litigation are expected to continue in the future. [Extracted from the article]

This article looks into how two sectoral regulatory systems - EU legislation applying to pesticides, and EU legislation applying to industrialchemicals - accommodate national participation in decisions about uncertain risks. It identifies uncertainty as situations in which the probabilities or other important information needed for a well-informed decision are lacking, and therefore refers to these situations as 'great uncertainty'. The article explores the assumption that national participation in decision-making under great uncertainty leads to higher environmental protection compared to centralised decisions. It does so by addressing the role of EU Member States and their national competent authorities in marketing authorisation decisions on pesticides and industrial chemicals, the exercise of national discretion in the authorisation of these substances, and the use of temporary derogation clauses by Member States once a product has been allowed to enter the market. The article compares two regulatory fields, as the two main harmonisation measures in this field - the Plant Protection Products Regulation and REACH - have established different authorisation systems: a decentralised system in the case of pesticides and a centralised system in the case of industrial chemicals. The outcomes of this comparison are that both systems enable national decisions about uncertain risks, but that the identified examples of national participation are not necessarily a responseto great uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the urgent need for an ambitious industrial strategy to boost the United Kingdom's economic growth by capitalizing on its strengths in science and innovation for commercialization and scalability. Topics discussed include the potential for an economic boost by 2030; the creation of high-value jobs in clean tech and life sciences; and the risks of the UK's life sciences sector atrophying without immediate action.

The article focuses on the United Kingdom (UK) Government's decision to not grant new licenses for animal testing of cosmetics ingredients, aiming to phase out animal experiments and invest in non-animal technologies. Topics include the ban on animal testing for cosmetics in the UK, the use of non-animal alternatives, and the call for a cross-government action plan to transition to animal-free research.

In compliance with Article 31 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, EFSA received a mandate from the European Commission to prepare a statement on the risk assessment related to the presence of benzalkonium chloride (mixture of alkylbenzyldimethylammonium chlorides with alkyl chain lengths of C8, C10, C12, C14, C16 and C18) (BAC), didecyldimethylammonium chloride (mixture of alkyl‐quaternary ammonium salts with alkyl chain lengths of C8, C10 and C12) (DDAC) and chlorates in fish and fish products. Within EFSA's annual chemical data collection, EFSA collected monitoring data for the residues of BAC, DDAC and chlorates from EU Member States, Iceland and Norway performed a statistical evaluation, providing estimated residue values for each substance in/on fish and fish products, at the percentile appropriate for the number of the available samples. Based on the information collected, EFSA performed an acute and chronic exposure assessment for EU consumers for BAC, DDAC and chlorates at the lower‐bound, medium‐bound and upper‐bound scenarios resulting from the consumption of fish and fish products. EFSA did not identify potential consumer health risks associated to residues of the substances found in fish and fish products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, the applicant BASF SE submitted a request to the competent national authority in Austria to set an import tolerance for the active substance fipronil in potatoes, maize, rice, sugar canes and to modify the existing EU MRLs (maximum residue levels) for fipronil in commodities of animal origin. During the assessment, the applicant withdrew the import tolerance requests on maize and rice. The data submitted in support of the present assessment were found to be sufficient to derive MRL proposal for sugar canes. For potatoes, data gaps were identified which precluded the derivation of MRL proposal. The livestock exposure to fipronil residues from the intake of sugar canes molasses required the setting of MRL in fat of bovine, sheep and goat. Adequate analytical methods for enforcement are available to control the total residues of fipronil in plant and animal matrices at the validated limit of quantification (LOQ) 0.005 mg/kg. Based on the risk assessment results, EFSA concluded that consumer intake concerns are not associated with fipronil residues in food commodities under consideration: sugar canes and fat of bovine, sheep and goat. There are no EU authorisations of fipronil as well as no Codex maximum residue limits (CXLs) or import tolerances are set for fipronil in the EU MRL legislation; therefore, other plant and animal commodities were not considered in the consumer exposure assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) lack of authority to restrict the use of harmful chemicals in nail products which pose occupational health hazards to nail salon technicians. It examines the most pervasive nail product chemicals and their potential effects on occupational health. It analyzes the negative impact of the rigid cosmetic framework of the FDA on its pre- and post-market authority and its power to address nail product safety issues.

The quality of chemical management depends more or less on practical procedures used to assess chemicals. This study quantitatively assessed the efficacy of a derivation procedure for calculating no‐effect concentrations for screening assessment of environmental hazards under the Chemical Substance Control Law in Japan. We first evaluated the derivation procedure by applying a series of test ecotoxicity datasets to the procedure and calculating the resulting misclassification rates of the hazardous class of chemicals. In this study, a chemical was deemed to have been misclassified if its classification differed from its classification based on the full dataset (chronic toxicity data for three trophic levels), which was defined as the correct assignment. We also calculated the effects of additional uncertainty factors to decrease the variance (i.e., to improve the consistency) of the misclassification rates among cases with different data availability in the derivation procedure. The results showed that the derivation procedure resulted in very high rates of misclassification when only particular sets of ecotoxicity data were available (e.g., only chronic toxicity data of algae were available). Our analyses also showed that the use of additional uncertainty factors improved the consistency of the misclassification rates within the derivation procedure. Our study presents a broadly applicable calculation framework for quantifying error rates in assessment procedures and serves as a case study for future development and reforms of chemical assessment processes and policies, while additional analyses using more extensive ecotoxicity data with various modes of actions are needed in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to quantitatively study the difference in occurrence content of functional groups in coals with different metamorphic degrees, the samples of long flame coal, coking coal, and anthracite of three different coal ranks were characterized by FTIR and the relative content of various functional groups in different coal ranks was obtained. The semi-quantitative structural parameters were calculated, and the evolution law of the chemical structure of the coal body was given. The results show that with the increase in the metamorphic degree, the substitution degree of hydrogen atoms on the benzene ring in the aromatic group increases with the increase in the vitrinite reflectance. With the increase in coal rank, the content of phenolic hydroxyl, carboxyl, carbonyl, and other active oxygen-containing groups gradually decreased, and the content of ether bonds gradually increased. Methyl content increased rapidly first and then increased slowly, methylene content increased slowly first and then decreased rapidly, and methylene content decreased first and then increased. With the increase in vitrinite reflectance, the OH-π hydrogen bond gradually increases, the content of hydroxyl self-association hydrogen bond first increases and then decreases, the oxygen-hydrogen bond of hydroxyl ether gradually increases, and the ring hydrogen bond first significantly decreases and then slowly increases. The content of the OH-N hydrogen bond is in direct proportion to the content of nitrogen in coal molecules. It can be seen from the semi-quantitative structural parameters that with the increase in coal rank, the aromatic carbon ratio fa, aromatic degree AR and condensation degree DOC increase gradually. With the increase in coal rank, A(CH2)/A(CH3) first decreases and then increases, hydrocarbon generation potential 'A' first increases and then decreases, maturity 'C' first decreases rapidly and then decreases slowly, and factor D gradually decreases. This paper is valuable for analyzing the occurrence form of functional groups in different coal ranks and clarifying the evolution process of structure in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

External evaluations by an international committee of the scientific risk assessment and decisionmaking processes of the Netherlands Competent Authority for the authorisation of plant protection products and biocides (Ctgb) were conducted in 2013 and 2018. Based on the experience drawn from them, a general guidance for such visitations is suggested. An international visitation committee examined the structure and management of the Authority, its human resources and staff policy, the scientific processes and output, the documentation and communication of its decisions and the mechanisms for keeping up to date with international scientific developments. Attention was paid to the degree of openness and transparency throughout the organisation and in particular when dealing with confidential information. From the experience gained it can be concluded that visitations not aiming at finding mistakes and omissions but instead focusing on recommendations and constructive suggestions will result in cooperation, mutual trust and acceptance of the recommendations made. A follow-up visitation after a few years can be effective in maintaining a traceable, high-level scientific output. In view of the strong drive towards the European Union-wide harmonisation of the regulatory practices of hazardous chemicals, a voluntary evaluation of regulatory authorities' scientific performance is recommended as a means for organisational learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Commission's 2020 draft Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability set the ambitious goal of achieving a "Toxic-Free Environment". Those ambitions were harshly criticised by a team based in Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (or BfR); they claimed that toxicological risks from chemicals had already been minimised and were optimally regulated. This paper outlines evidence to support the Commission's implication that the European Union's chemicals regulatory regime is suboptimal. It also criticises the BfR team's contentions by reference to empirical findings (eg concerning tumours, congenital anomalies and the toxicity of mixtures) and by disentangling their conceptual confusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the waste regulation and chemicals regulation of the European Union are based on the precautionary principle. The main objective of the chemicals regulation is to protect human health and the environment from the risk caused by hazardous chemicals. The modern waste regulation aims, among other things, at fostering the recovery of waste. These material circulation aims have been recently emphasised by introducing the ambitious circular economy objectives. Many of the waste streams contain hazardous substances that may pose risks to human health and the environment. This article examines the role of the precautionary principle in the circular economy. We argue that sustainable material circulation can only be achieved through a case-by-case application of the precautionary principle, but this also requires participatory discourse in which competing arguments, beliefs and values are openly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings (FAF) was requested to consider the JECFA evaluations of 28 flavouring substances in the Flavouring Group Evaluation 76 (FGE.76Rev2). Twenty‐one of these substances have been considered in FGE.76Rev1. Seven substances could not be evaluated, because of concerns with respect to genotoxicity. New genotoxicity data have been provided for 4‐methyl‐5‐vinylthiazole [FL‐no: 15.018] and 4,5‐dimethyl‐2‐isobutyl‐3‐thiazoline [FL‐no: 15.032], which are representative substances of [FL‐no: 15.005] and [FL‐no: 15.029, 15.030, 15.130 and 15.131], respectively. The Panel concluded that the concern for genotoxicity is ruled out for [FL‐no: 15.018 and 15.005]. The concerns for gene mutations and clastogenicity are ruled out for [FL‐no: 15.032, 15.029, 15.030, 15.130 and 15.131]. In vitro, [FL‐no: 15.032] induced micronuclei through an aneugenic mode of action. The available in vivo micronucleus study was not adequate to rule out the concern for potential aneugenicity in vivo. The Panel compared the lowest concentration resulting in aneugenicity in vitro with the use levels reported for [FL‐no: 15.032]. Based on this comparison, the Panel concluded that the use of [FL‐no: 15.032] at the maximum reported use levels does not raise a concern for aneugenicity. Based on structural similarity, for the remaining four substances [FL‐no: 15.029, 15.030, 15.130 and 15.131], an aneugenic potential may also be anticipated. Individual genotoxicity data are needed to establish whether they have aneugenic potential. The Panel agrees with JECFA conclusions for 24 flavouring substances 'No safety concern at estimated levels of intake as flavouring substances' when based on the MSDI approach. For six substances, more reliable information on uses and use levels are needed to refine the mTAMDI estimates. For 15 substances, use levels are needed to calculate the mTAMDIs. For [FL‐no: 15.109 and 15.113], information on the actual stereochemical composition is inadequate and the conclusion reached for the named substances cannot be applied to the materials of commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, the applicant Bayer SAS – Crop Science Division submitted a request to the competent national authority in the Netherlands to modify the existing maximum residue levels (MRLs) for the active substance prothioconazole in garlic, onions and shallots. The data submitted in support of the request were found to be sufficient to derive MRL proposals for garlic, onion and shallots. Adequate analytical methods for enforcement are available to control the residues of prothioconazole on the commodities under consideration at the validated limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.02 mg/kg. Based on the risk assessment results, EFSA concluded that the short‐term and long‐term intake of residues resulting from the use of prothioconazole according to the reported agricultural practices is unlikely to present a risk to consumer health. An indicative exposure assessment to triazole derivative metabolites from the intended uses of prothioconazole did not indicate consumer intake concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protection of children is an activity to ensure the continuity of their lives to be able to grow and develop as the next generation of the nation, where the protection provided always pays attention to the existence of their rights, both juridical and non-juridical, which aims to ensure that children are always optimally healthy and able to move forward. maturity so that they can support themselves, so that due to protection and children are always guarded to avoid all threats and even actions that can endanger themselves. Because of the importance of protecting children, the perpetrators are always given castration sanctions, namely actions given to perpetrators of sexual crimes against children, in addition to the imposition of sanctions in the form of imprisonment and fines, but for children as perpetrators this chemical castration sanction is excluded. The purpose of this research is to find out how effective the implementation of castration sanctions is as a punishment for perpetrators of sexual crimes. While the method studied from this research is normative juridical, namely reviewing from the literature and also regulations from legislation and relating to the problem under study and can also be done by conducting a literature study where the results are that the implementation of castration sanctions in its application is contrary to human rights, and religion and can disturb the psyche of the perpetrator, and a law that applies nationally and not only a Government Regulation must be made so that its implementation is binding on everyone as an Indonesian citizen wherever they are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) and N-methylpyrrolidinone (NMP) are two of the common organic solvents which are facing increasing restrictions in terms of chemical safety and environmental regulations. Thus, seeking greener alternatives to replace them becomes an urgent need. Cyrene™ has recently evolved as one of the greener alternatives in many applications. However, its high viscosity greatly limits its broader applications. In this study, a series of Cyrene™ blends, a solvent system created by blending Cyrene™ with other common organic solvents, were developed and studied to address the Cyrene™'s viscosity issue. The material stability and applications in organic syntheses, i.e. HATU amide coupling, Suzuki coupling, Sonogashira coupling, N-alkylation, SNAr reaction, aldimine reaction and 2-pyridyl homocoupling, are also investigated to demonstrate the usefulness of these Cyrene™ blends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a high-speed emulsifier and electric dehydrator were used to study the main factors affecting the emulsifying stability of flowback fluids from acidizing oil wells in the DaQing oilfield of China. According to the variation laws of the chemical composition of the transition layer before and after the acid cleaning and descaling treatment, the effects of various components, including inorganic salts, solid nanoparticles, polymers, and surfactants, on the stability of emulsions were investigated. The results showed that sodium chloride (NaCl) had the best ability to maintain the stability of the emulsion. The effect of ferrous sulfide (FeS) nanoparticles on the emulsifying stability of the emulsion was higher than that of silica nanoparticles and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) nanoparticles. The effect of the polymer on the stability of the emulsion was higher than that of the surfactant. When the mass fraction of asphaltene is higher than 0.67%, the stability of the emulsion would increase, creating a difficulty in demulsification. The mechanism of multi-factor synergistic emulsification is clarified in this study. The charges of NaCl itself were packed densely on the interface between oil and water to stabilize the number of charges on the interface, leading to the enhancement of the stability of the interfacial film. FeS nanoparticles, silica (SiO2) nanoparticles, and CaCO3 nanoparticles coalesced on the interface between oil and water to form a dense wrapping layer, which could effectively prevent flocculation, coalescence, or merger of the dispersed phase droplets caused by factors such as electrostatic attraction and interfacial energy changing the spatial structure. These results are of great significance to the efficient treatment of oilfield-produced fluids and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the difficulties encountered in solving direct and inverse chemical kinetics problems is the complexity of studying multidimensional systems of differential equations describing the regularities of reactions carried out under unsteady-state conditions. This difficulty emerging when one deals not only with real reaction systems but also with simple model reactions can be overcome by reducing the dimension of the differential equations systems via using conservation laws, whose finding, especially for nonlinear systems, is a challenging task. It is known that chemical reactions occurring in lumped closed systems are subject to stoichiometric conservation laws characterizing the laws of conservation of the atoms of the reactants, which are fairly easy to detect. This is a more difficult task in the case of distributed systems for which the corresponding chemical processes are described by plug-flow and partially stirred reactor models, which do not have analytical solutions. It is in this connection that a method for finding conservation laws (invariants) for chemical reactions proceeding in an open nonisothermal partially stirred reactor operating in an unsteady mode, with longitudinal diffusion of the reactants and heat convection taken into account, was presented. The invariants found by this method can be used for experimental verification of the mechanisms of chemical reactions, whose detailed kinetic characteristics (kinetic laws, rate constants of individual steps, etc.) are not known. These invariants allow comparing the theoretical characteristics of the supposed mechanism of the reaction with its experimentally observed regularities and providing a more reliable solution to the inverse chemical kinetics problem. The effectiveness of the method was illustrated by examples of specific reactions, for which the conservation laws were found and used for identifying their mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how microbes and microbial crop protection products help farmers to combat plant pests and diseases with fewer or no chemical inputs. Topics include European Commission proposed a new legal requirement to reduce pesticide use by fifty percent by 2030; and address concerns about chemicals such as neonicotinoids contaminating terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

The article discusses the regulation of chemicals in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK). The EU implemented the Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) in 2007 to protect human health and the environment. The UK, after leaving the EU, established its own version of REACH, known as UK REACH, which came into force on January 1, 2021. There have been ongoing debates and discussions regarding the requirements and costs associated with UK REACH. The UK government has proposed a public consultation to address concerns and potentially revise the registration model. The chemical industry in the UK is hoping for regulatory certainty and increased investment from the government. Additionally, the article mentions the need for attention to patient access to new medicines and inward investment in the UK. [Extracted from the article]

In accordance with Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, the applicant Agriphar SA submitted a request to the competent national authority in Ireland to modify the existing maximum residue levels (MRLs) for the active substance triclopyr in oranges, lemons and mandarins. The data submitted in support of the request were found to be sufficient to derive an MRL proposal for these commodities. Adequate analytical methods for enforcement are available to control the residues of triclopyr in the plant matrices under consideration at the validated LOQ of 0.01 mg/kg. Based on the risk assessment results, EFSA concluded that the short‐term and long‐term intake of residues resulting from the use of triclopyr according to the reported agricultural practice is unlikely to present a risk to consumer health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assembly theory (referred to in prior works as pathway assembly) has been developed to explore the extrinsic information required to distinguish a given object from a random ensemble. In prior work, we explored the key concepts relating to deconstructing an object into its irreducible parts and then evaluating the minimum number of steps required to rebuild it, allowing for the reuse of constructed sub-objects. We have also explored the application of this approach to molecules, as molecular assembly, and how molecular assembly can be inferred experimentally and used for life detection. In this article, we formalise the core assembly concepts mathematically in terms of assembly spaces and related concepts and determine bounds on the assembly index. We explore examples of constructing assembly spaces for mathematical and physical objects and propose that objects with a high assembly index can be uniquely identified as those that must have been produced using directed biological or technological processes rather than purely random processes, thereby defining a new scale of aliveness. We think this approach is needed to help identify the new physical and chemical laws needed to understand what life is, by quantifying what life does. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of regulation pervades biology, for example in models of genetic regulatory networks and the endocrine system. Regulation has a normative opposite, dysregulation, which figures prominently in biomedical models of disease. The use of normative concepts in biology, however, has been thought to present some challenges for the physicalist view of the world, and various resolutions have been proposed. Up to now the problem of biological normativity has been debated largely in connection with the concept of biological information. In this paper we shift focus to the concept of biological regulation, proposing that it provides a promising new approach to these issues. Models of regulatory systems have several features: they are causal, but they do not deal with the energy exchanges and transformations covered by physics and chemistry; further, and entirely connected, regulatory systems can break down, and this is because they and their causal-regulatory properties are dependent on fragile molecular structures. Biological regulatory systems exhibit normativity, because they are not determined by physical and chemical laws, but their close relationship with physical laws and physicalist ontology is transparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the submission of application EFSA‐GMO‐RX‐020 under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 from BASF Agricultural Solutions Seed US LLC, the Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of the EFSA was asked to deliver a scientific risk assessment on the data submitted in the context of the renewal of authorisation application for the herbicide‐tolerant genetically modified soybean A5547‐127, for food and feed uses, excluding cultivation within the European Union. The data received in the context of this renewal application contained post‐market environmental monitoring reports, a systematic search and evaluation of literature, updated bioinformatic analyses and additional documents or studies performed by or on behalf of the applicant. The GMO Panel assessed these data for possible new hazards, modified exposure or new scientific uncertainties identified during the authorisation period and not previously assessed in the context of the original application. The GMO Panel concludes that there is no evidence in renewal application EFSA‐GMO‐RX‐020 for new hazards, modified exposure or scientific uncertainties that would change the conclusions of the original risk assessment on soybean A5547‐127. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]