The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a report entitled Nanotechnology — Over a Decade of Progress and Innovation that highlights FDA’s advancements in the field of nanotechnology since it released its last report in 2007. The report also reviews FDA’s role in advancing the public health through its regulation of products within its
Australia Releases Extra Guidance on Categorizing Chemicals at the Nanoscale under AICIS
The Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme (AICIS) took effect on July 1, 2020. Under AICIS, companies that import or manufacture (including introduce) industrial chemicals, or products that release industrial chemicals, into Australia for commercial purposes should first check whether the industrial chemical is listed on the Inventory. If the chemical is on the Inventory
Germany Publishes Overview of Field of Advanced Materials
In July 2020, the German Environment Agency (UBA) published a report entitled Advanced materials: Overview of the field and screening criteria for relevance assessment. The report describes activities within the project “Advanced materials — Thematic conferences: Assessment of needs to act on chemical safety” to provide discussion input on approaches to describe, cluster, and
ACGIH® Will Not Proceed with TLV® for Carbon Nanotubes in 2021
As reported in our February 5, 2020, blog item, the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH®) Threshold Limit Values for Chemical Substances (TLV®-CS) Committee included carbon nanotubes on its 2020 list of chemical substances and other issues under study. Being placed on the under study list indicated that the
OECD Publishes Guidance Documents for the Testing and Assessment of Nanomaterials
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published two guidance documents in its series on testing and assessment:
- Guidance Document on Aquatic and Sediment Toxicological Testing of Nanomaterials (No. 317): The guidance document addresses practical aspects of carrying out valid tests with manufactured nanomaterials, as well as modifications or additions to OECD Test
EUON Nanopinion Highlights Benefits of Bio-Based Nanomaterials
On July 23, 2020, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “Material manufacturing from nano-scaled particles: moving forward using plants” by Dr. Blaise Tardy, Research Fellow, Bio-Based Colloids and Materials Research Group — Aalto University in Finland. Dr. Tardy notes that bio-based nanomaterials such as nanocellulose “have shown
NIEHS Grantees Construct New Database to Facilitate Nanomaterial Research
The July 2020 issue of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Environmental Factor includes an item on a new database that facilitates nanomaterial research. According to the article, NIEHS grantees constructed PubVINAS, “a large database of structure, chemical property, and activity information on 705 nanomaterials, covering 11 material types.” The article
EFSA Consults on Draft Guidance on Technical Requirements for Regulated Food and Feed Product Applications to Establish the Presence of Small Particles, Including Nanoparticles
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has begun a public consultation on a draft document entitled “EFSA Guidance on Technical Requirements for Regulated Food and Feed Product Applications to Establish the Presence of Small Particles Including Nanoparticles.” The draft Guidance sets out information requirements for applications in the regulated food and feed product areas and
ANSI Nanotechnology Standards Panel Will Hold Virtual Workshop on Advanced Materials in August
On August 19 and 20, 2020, the American National Standards Institute Nanotechnology Standards Panel (ANSI-NSP) will hold a virtual workshop on advanced materials. ANSI states that advanced materials are of growing interest as there is increasing recognition that size alone does not define the unique properties of a material. More and more, governments
ISO Publishes Standards Regarding Measurements of Nanoparticle Size and Shape Distribution and Polymeric Nanocomposite Films for Food Packaging with Barrier Properties
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published two nanotechnology standards:
- ISO 21363:2020, “Nanotechnologies — Measurements of particle size and shape distributions by transmission electron microscopy”: The standard specifies how to capture, measure, and analyze transmission electron microscopy images to obtain particle size and shape distributions in the nanoscale. According to ISO, the