Low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants emerging today can be grouped into several categories, making selection complicated. While low GWP is important, it is only one of many factors involved in refrigerant selection and safe use.

Editor's Note: This news brief was brought to you by the Chemical Manufacturing eNewsletter. Subscribe today to have content like this delivered to your inbox

Bisphenol S, or BPS, a chemical compound found in household plastics and food packaging, could be just as harmful to the reproductive system as Bisphenol A, or BPA, the chemical it was intended to replace, according to a study by UCLA researchers. In fertility tests on common laboratory roundworms, those exposed to either BPA or BPS had decreased fertility, but even moreso among those exposed to low doses of BPS. Researchers say their findings are a cause for concern, as the same reproductive processes that are disrupted by BPS in roundworms are found in mammals.

Editor's Note: This news brief was brought to you by the Chemical Manufacturing eNewsletter. Subscribe today to have content like this delivered to your inbox

Quantifying the water content of solid drugs is one of the most commonly performed chemical tests, with an estimated more than 130 million processes carried out annually worldwide. Now, chemists at The University of Texas at Arlington have invented a new method of performing this test that they say is faster, cheaper, and more accurate than the traditional method, known as Karl Fischer titration. The new system can also be automated, thus reducing labor costs for pharmaceutical companies with potential economic benefits for consumers, researchers said.

Editor's Note: This news brief was brought to you by the Chemical Manufacturing eNewsletter. Subscribe today to have content like this delivered to your inbox

Are the European Union's extensive REACH regulations governing all things chemical an over-REACH? That's what some industry members are now claiming as additional mandates loom calling for up to 70,000 more chemicals to undergo safety screening and authorization procedures by 2018. Leaders of Europe's chemical industry association complain the regulations threaten to stymie innovation and overly burden small- and medium-sized enterprises at a time when Europe is struggling to compete globally.

Editor's Note: This news brief was brought to you by the Chemical Manufacturing eNewsletter. Subscribe today to have content like this delivered to your inbox

Seeking to spur adoption of more climate-friendly alternatives, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to ban the use of certain hydrofluorocarbons, a class of greenhouse gases commonly known as HFCs, widely used in air conditioners, refrigerators, and fire extinguishers. The EPA proposes listing as unacceptable certain flammable hydrocarbon refrigerants and blends for retrofitting existing residential central air conditioning equipment designed for non-flammable refrigerants, as well as propylene and the hydrocarbon blend R-443A in specific end uses in the refrigeration and air conditioning sectors in favor of safer alternatives.

Editor's Note: This news brief was brought to you by the Chemical Manufacturing eNewsletter. Subscribe today to have content like this delivered to your inbox