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July 13, 2015

OECD Issues New Publications in Series on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials

Lynn L. Bergeson Carla N. Hutton

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has issued the following publications in its Series on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials:

  •  No. 55 — Harmonized Tiered Approach to Measure and Assess the Potential Exposure to Airborne Emissions of Engineered Nano-Objects and their Agglomerates and Aggregates at Workplaces:  The primary goal of this publication is to describe a reliable formal methodology for conducting consistent exposure related measurements and assessments of aerosols containing engineered nano-objects and their agglomerates and aggregates in workplace operations.  This publication presents a harmonized tiered approach that is “systematic, consistent, practical, and flexible for conducting field-based, real-time workplace release and exposure measurement and assessment” to airborne nano-objects and their agglomerates and aggregates and off-line analyses of measurement samples.
  •  No. 56 — Analysis of the Survey on Available Methods and Models for Assessing Exposure to Manufactured Nanomaterials:  The OECD Working Party for Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) Steering Group 8 agreed to conduct an informal survey as an initial step in compiling information regarding methods and models for assessing exposure to manufactured nanomaterials.  The results were intended to develop an inventory of available methods and models used to assess human and environmental exposure to manufactured nanomaterials.  The survey gathered information on a variety of types of methods and models, including those used to set priorities, screen nanomaterials, develop detailed assessments of exposure, and other types of methods or models.
  •  No. 57 — Guidance Manual Towards the Integration of Risk Assessment into Life Cycle Assessment of Nano-Enabled Applications:  Based on the conclusions of a 2011 workshop on “Environmentally Sustainable Use of Manufactured Nanomaterials,” the OECD WPMN Steering Group 9 Project on the Environmentally Sustainable Use of Manufactured Nanomaterials developed this guidance manual intended to support decision making in various situations; including research, innovation, product development, scaling-up of production, marketing, and end-of-life, as well as regulatory decisions.  This publication aims to incorporate knowledge of risk analyses of the environmental impact in life cycle assessment studies as decision-making tools during both upstream (research and development) and downstream (industrialization, usage, re-use, end-of-life management: recycling, recovery, destruction) phases of a nanostructured product.