📊CDC Notice on Proposed Data Collection for Workforce Development
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden and maximize the utility of government information, invites the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a proposed information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project titled Healthcare Prevention and Response Workforce Development for Health Departments. The proposed workforce development evaluations will be used to assess whether the CDC-developed workforce development activities are reaching the intended audience and achieving the intended goal of strengthening public health workforce capacity to prevent and respond to Healthcare-Associated Infection and Antibiotic Resistance (HAI/AR) outbreaks at the individual trainee and program level.
Learn More💧EPA Approves Alternative Test Methods for Drinking Water Compliance
This action announces the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of alternative testing methods for use in measuring the levels of contaminants in drinking water to determine compliance with national primary drinking water regulations. The Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes EPA to approve the use of alternative testing methods through publication in the Federal Register. EPA is using this streamlined authority to make two additional methods available for analyzing drinking water samples. This expedited approach provides public water systems, laboratories, and primacy agencies with more timely access to new measurement techniques and greater flexibility in the selection of analytical methods, thereby reducing monitoring costs while maintaining public health protection.
Learn More🚬Proposed Nicotine Yield Regulations
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, the Agency, or we) is proposing a tobacco product standard that would regulate nicotine yield by establishing a maximum nicotine level in cigarettes and certain other combusted tobacco products. FDA is proposing this action to reduce the addictiveness of these products, thus giving people who are addicted and wish to quit the ability to do so more easily. The proposed product standard is anticipated to benefit the population as a whole. For example, it would help to prevent people who experiment with cigarettes and cigars from developing addiction and using combusted tobacco products regularly.
Learn More🏥NACNHSC 2025 Meeting Notice and Business Implications
In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, this notice announces that the National Advisory Council on the National Health Service Corps (NACNHSC) will hold public meetings for the 2025 calendar year (CY). Information about NACNHSC, agendas, and materials for these meetings can be found on the NACNHSC website at: https:// www.hrsa.gov/advisory-committees/national-health-service-corps.
Learn More🏥OSHA Terminates COVID-19 Rulemaking for Healthcare Settings
OSHA is terminating its COVID-19 rulemaking.
Learn More🚰EPA Announces Preliminary Regulatory Determinations for Water Contaminants
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as amended in 1996, requires that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determine whether to regulate at least five unregulated contaminants every five years. The decision to regulate or not to regulate a contaminant is known as a regulatory determination. In most cases, the contaminants chosen for regulatory determination are selected from the most recent Contaminant Candidate List (CCL), which the SDWA requires the EPA to publish every five years. This document presents the preliminary regulatory determinations and supporting rationale for contaminants listed on the EPA's fifth CCL (CCL 5). Since the fourth round of regulatory determinations was published in March 2021, the EPA has made determinations to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including individual determinations for three PFAS: perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid and its ammonium salt (HFPO-DA, also known as GenX or GenX chemicals); and mixtures including two or more of these three PFAS and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS). In April 2024, the agency issued a final National Primary Drinking Water Regulation that includes these four PFAS as well as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). In this Federal Register Notice (FRN), the EPA is making preliminary determinations not to regulate nine additional contaminants from CCL 5: 2-aminotoluene, cylindrospermopsin, ethoprop, microcystins, molybdenum, permethrin, profenofos, tebuconazole and tribufos. The EPA requests public comment on these preliminary determinations and other aspects of this FRN. The EPA also presents updates on additional contaminants from CCL 5, as well as on some of those that have been considered in previous rounds of regulatory determinations and for which the EPA has not yet made a regulatory determination. The agency is also presenting and requesting comment on the process and analyses used for this round of regulatory determinations (i.e., RD 5), the supporting information, and the rationale used to make these preliminary decisions.
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