The Netherlands Describes Tool for Risk Assessment of Nanomaterials in Cosmetics

On January 25, 2016, the Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) published a report that describes the content of a computer program that can be used for a risk assessment.  According to RIVM, the NanoCosmetics tool will need to cover all aspects of the risk assessment, including:  the physicochemical characterization of the nanomaterials; the estimation of the consumer exposure; the possible hazards (toxicity) induced by the nanomaterials; and the risk assessment itself.  The report concludes that it is feasible to develop an electronic tool that allows an estimation of the risk of the use of nanomaterials as cosmetic ingredients.  In cases where only limited information is available, however, the tool will use default values as input data for the risk assessment.  These default values will generally result in a conservative outcome.