New regs for Wednesday: Pensions, syphilis, pesticides

Wednesday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new requirements for participating in pension benefits programs, testing donors for syphilis and the use of pesticides by farmers.

Here’s what is happening:

Pensions: Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is moving forward with new regulations for pension benefits.

The rules address the minimum contributions required for participation in single-employer defined pension plans and the excise tax charged to those that fail to meet this requirement.

This will affect employees, sponsors and administrators of the pension plans, the IRS noted.

The new rules go into effect immediately.

Syphilis: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is moving forward with new guidelines for testing donors for syphilis.

The recommendations will apply to facilities responsible for testing human cells and tissues for Treponema pallidum infection, which is an indication of syphilis. The “FDA does not consider diagnostic tests or pre-amendment devices to be adequate,” the agency wrote.

Pesticides: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is loosening the regulations for a certain pesticide.

The EPA will exempt propylene glycol monomethyl ether from rules that would otherwise limit the use of the pesticide chemical residue.

The changes go into effect immediately.