NGOs Call for Actions, Not Words, from the EC on Nanotechnology

On April 26, 2016, a group of non-governmental organizations (NGO), consumer groups, and research organizations issued a press release expressing “disappointment with the European Commission’s [(EC)] continuing failure to propose adequate measures for the collection and publication of information about nanomaterials on the [European Union (EU)] market after a Commission meeting with stakeholders in Brussels on Monday.” The press release criticizes the EC for deciding against an EU-wide nanomaterial registry before completing the impact assessment process. Instead, according to the press release, the EC asked the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to develop a nanomaterial observatory as part of its 2015-18 nanomaterials work plan. The press release states that the April 25, 2016, meeting “was supposed to provide more details about this new mechanism, but in reality it provided little hope that the observatory will be able to address the pressing information gaps about nanomaterials on the market.”