Activity, information-gathering

Section 8 - enables the EPA to require recordkeeping and reporting of information. Part of this authority includes the direction for the Agency to compile an inventory of all chemical substances in commerce. The basic information gathering activities are Section 8(a) - reporting of production, use,... 

I would like now to discuss a third major area of TSCA -- the recordkeeping, retention, and reporting of information under Section 8 of TSCA. The basic purpose of this information gathering mechanism of TSCA is to assist EPA in acquiring information necessary for the Agency s various regulatory activities under the Act. Section 8 is not a substantive regulatory provision. It functions as an adjunct to other provisions to provide EPA with the information relevant to the evaluation of the health or environmental effects of chemical substances. 

The 8(b) inventory accumulation was the next major activity. For a decentralized company like Monsanto or, for that matter, most major chemical companies, the experience of centralized information gathering was a new experience. However, we believe that the experience not only was novel, but proved to be beneficial from several points of view. First of all, it enabled us to evolve a network of expertise. Second it gave us a central data-base on which to build other information important from a corporate point of view, and permit a one-time expense for developing a system. Third, it revealed that we needed to improve our data files in some areas. And, fourth, it gave our central staff departments some surprises as to substance locations. We used the Chemical Abstract Service Registry Profile capabilities to gather all the known synonyms and added our internal numeric and common identifiers to access the file via dozens of possible names or numbers. 

Monsanto s experience with information-gathering and reporting under section 8(d) - Health and Safety Studies - has not been as rewarding as the inventory activity. On July 8, 1978 EPA issued a Final Rule requiring submission of lists and copies of... 

A large part of the difficulty in developing regulatory initiatives under TSCA may be the lack of specific statutory direction. Preventing unreasonable risks is harder to implement as a policy than achieving percentage reductions in air emissions of particular pollutants. The implementation of this Act has therefore tended to focus on information-gathering objectives rather than control activities. 

Notification by law enforcement. A chemical facility may receive notification about a threat directly from law enforcement, including local, county, state, or federal agencies. As discussed previously, such a threat could be a result of suspicious activity reported to law enforcement, either by a perpetrator, a witness, or the news media. Other information, gathered through intelligence or informants, could also lead law enforcement to conclude that there may be a threat to the chemical facility. While... 

Foreign intelligence services Foreign intelligence services use cyber tools as part of their information gathering and espionage activities. 

A Description of Munitions in the Blue Grass Army Depot Stockpile B Committee Meetings, Site Visits, and Information-Gathering Activities C Biographical Sketches of Committee Members... 

Committee Meetings, Site Visits, and Information-Gathering Activities... 

In practice, the Patriot Act and its successors, has circumvented the check and balance system. The Executive Branch has, for example, lowered the threshold of probable cause to the level of suspicion it has equated criminal activity with terrorist activity it has removed or delayed notice requirements for warrants it has required mandatory compliance on third parties for the production of information gathered secredy it has imposed a gag order upon notice and production of information it permits sharing of confidential personal information between investigative units and minimized the role of the judiciary. The overall effect is the Executive Branch and Justice Department are assuming power to define application of the Fourth Amendment. An additional result is the collection of a wide variety of highly personal and sensitive information on law-abiding individuals. 

To conclude the investigation, the results should be evaluated in light of all information gathered about the batch and analytical testing thus far, the batch quality should be determined, and a release decision should be made. The investigation SOP should describe all activities in detail and should be followed up to this point. Once the batch has been rejected, there is no limit to further testing to determine the cause of the failure. This is critical if a corrective action and preventative measures are to be developed and implemented. 

This article reviews information gathered from these areas of research which provides the bulk of our present knowledge of metabolism of OSC in petroleum. The order of presentation is that of increasing experimental control over the microbial activities. First, observations of the persistence of OSC in petroleum-contaminated environments and their occurrence in petroleum reservoirs will be presented. In these situations, we exert little or no control over the microbial activities which occur. Next, results from laboratory studies with crude petroleum or petroleum fractions will be presented. Finally, laboratory work with pure OSC will be summarized. Using the latter controlled conditions, metabolic intermediates and pathways for a few OSC have been elucidated. 

At the beginning of an inspection, an individual inspection notebook is issued to each IT member. The inspector must record all information gathered during the inspection preparation phase and on-site activities in his/her inspection notebook. The notebooks never leave the custody of the IT. 

With respect to H2S contamination, it has been recognized for many years that the major impact is upon the fuel cell electrode kinetics [40], When H2S is added to humidified H2, EIS can be used to study the H2S contamination. Information gathered includes the effects of the H2S concentration, the exposure time, and the reversibility of the contamination. H2S can strongly adsorb on a Pt catalyst surface, blocking the active sites and then causing irreversible contamination. 

Biased-targeted libraries are similar to primary libraries in terms of their architecture and format. In fact, the reported primary libraries have often been designed taking into account some of the above-mentioned filters information biased) and thus should actually be called pseudofocused libraries. They are tested on as many targets as possible, as for primary libraries, but the information gathered in terms of activity valuable hits) should be more easily transformed into relevant active leads to be developed further. 

It was recently reported that women with a higher intake of n-3 fatty acids tend to have a lower risk of dry eye, based on information gathered from a questionnaire on dietary habits. A completed questionnaire was received from over 32,000 subjects in the Women s Health Study. A high dietary intake ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids was associated with a greater prevalence in dry eye. Although the questionnaire results suggest intake of n-3 fatty acids and the ratio of their consumption to n-6 fatty acids can affect the amount of inflammatory activity in the body, there has been no systematic study to establish the role of fatty acids in the treatment of dry eye. 

Probably the strongest conclusion produced by these information gathering activities was that people were generally ambivalent about the refinery, voicing neither major criticisms nor major support. In general, those contacted believed that the refinery complied with environmental laws and that this compliance probably protected the community. Most people felt that there were more pressing problems in the Yorktown area than the refinery. For example, land development, traffic, and sewer and water problems were cited as major quality-of-life concerns. When specifically asked about air pollution, water pollution, and disposal of solid waste, residents indicated that they did have a concern with respect to the oil refinery. These concerns, however, were not strongly felt and not specific. 

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