By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) conducts up to three studies annually. The studies are intended to address knowledge gaps relating to nanomaterials that are of interest to the general public and the research community. EUON announced on January 14, 2019, that it is now looking for topic suggestions that could be addressed… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Research,United StatesThe December 2018 issue of the Journal of Nanoparticle Research includes an article entitled “A survey on the state of nanosafety research in the European Union and the United States.” According to the abstract, the authors surveyed researchers in the field of environmental safety and health of nanomaterials between September 2017 and January 2018 to… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchIn December 2018, the International Standardization Organization (ISO) published standard SO/TS 16195:2018, “Nanotechnologies — Specification for developing representative test materials consisting of nano-objects in dry powder form.” The standard specifies development of representative test materials consisting of nano-objects in dry powder form to enable test method development and improve comparability of data for nanotechnology applications.… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchOn November 5, 2018, the European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) announced the availability of the NANoREG Toolbox, an inventory of publicly available tools for the safety assessment of nanomaterials. As reported in our October 5, 2017, blog item, JRC first published the inventory as a Microsoft Excel®-based dataset. JRC scientists have now published… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe European Commission (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) announced publication of a paper introducing a new standardized testing procedure for nanomaterial environmental toxicity, “Introducing a new standardized nanomaterial environmental toxicity screening testing procedure, ISO/TS 20787: aquatic toxicity assessment of manufactured nanomaterials in saltwater lakes using Artemia sp. nauplii.” The abstract states that the testing procedure… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Legal/Regulatory Issues,Research,United StatesOn October 19, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted the Final Work Plan (FWP) for the nanosilver registration review process under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The FWP explains what the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) “knows about nanosilver generally, highlighting anticipated data and assessment needs for each unique nanosilver… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesThe National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) has published key takeaways and a transcript for the September 19, 2018, webinar, “Technology Pathways Toward Commercializing Nanotechnology.” The webinar focused on quality control in the manufacturing process and built on NNI’s November 2017 Technology Pathways workshop. Webinar panelists Katherine Barton, Laboratory and Production Manager at Nano-C, and Doug Singer,… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in EU Member State,International,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,ResearchThe German Environment Agency (UBA) in October 2018 published a study entitled Health Effects of Ultrafine Particles: Systematic literature search and the potential transferability of the results to the German setting. The study notes that ultrafine particles represent the smallest size fractions of particles with sizes from one to about 100 nanometers in aerodynamic diameter. … Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,OECD,ResearchOn September 12-13, 2018, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), NanoReg2, and GRACIOUS hosted a “Scientific Workshop: Grouping of Nanomaterials.” The Workshop brought together 120 nanotechnology specialists from Europe, North America, and Asia to discuss a bottleneck in nanomaterials development and testing. The agenda and the following slides from the workshop have been… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,OECD,ResearchOn September 21, 2018, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced four new case studies on integrated approaches for testing and assessment (IATA), including a Case Study on Grouping and Read-Across for Nanomaterials — Genotoxicity of Nano-TiO2. The European Union (EU) Joint Research Center (JRC) developed the case study for the genotoxicity of… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesOn September 26, 2018, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will discuss the Fiscal Year 2019 Operating Plan. According to the Operating Plan, in fiscal year (FY) 2019, CPSC will continue supporting nanotechnology research and working with other federal agencies under the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) to minimize duplication and overlap of existing research… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in EU Member State,International,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,ResearchGermany’s Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) has published a report entitled Comparison of Inhalation and Intratracheal Instillation as Testing Methods for Characterisation of Granular Biopersistent Particles (GBP). In Project F 2364, researchers conducted an in vivo validation study to evaluate the consistency of data with results obtained in the preceding intratracheal instillation… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe European Commission (EC) has published a success story, “Controlling light at the nanoscale thanks to graphene.” The EC notes graphene, “an atomically thin lattice of carbon, has many exceptional properties.” A European Union (EU)-funded project is focusing on the unique capabilities of graphene plasmons to transport and control light emissions at spatial scales far… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchThe European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced on September 7, 2018, that a new study found gaps in the current knowledge on the hazard and risk assessment of nano-sized pigments. The study, commissioned by EUON, identified 81 nano-sized pigments currently used in the EU market. The study was done to collect publicly available… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesThe National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) has published The National Nanotechnology Initiative Supplement to the President’s 2019 Budget. The August 2018 document not only supplements the President’s budget request for fiscal year 2019, but also serves as NNI’s annual report and addresses the requirement for Department of Defense (DOD) reporting on its nanotechnology investments. President Trump… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center has published a Technical Report entitled Mapping Nanomedicine Terminology in the Regulatory Landscape. According to the abstract, to support a better understanding of terms used in the regulatory domain, the Nanomedicines Working Group of the International Pharmaceutical Regulators Forum (IPRF) prioritized the need to map, compile, and discuss… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,Research,United StatesRegistration has opened for an August 20, 2018, webinar on “NanoEHS and Nanomedicine: Similarities and Synergisms.” The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) notes that there are many synergies between nanomedicine research, which addresses (among other topics) issues of efficacy and safety, and studies on the environmental, health, and safety effects of nanomaterials (nanoEHS), which include the… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchThe July 2018 issue of the EFSA Journal includes an article entitled “Evaluation of four new studies on the potential toxicity of titanium dioxide used as a food additive (E 171).” The European Commission (EC) asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to carry out a scientific evaluation on four studies on the potential toxicity… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchOn July 17, 2018, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced the availability of a study that it commissioned, Critical review of the relevance and reliability of data sources, methods, parameters and determining factors to produce market studies on manufactured nanomaterials on the EU market. The study presents the results of a critical… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,OECD,ResearchThe NanoSafety Cluster announced that its projects NanoReg2 and Gracious, which focus on grouping, have come together with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Working Party for Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) to host a two-day conference in Paris on September 12-13, 2018. The “Scientific workshop on Grouping of Nanomaterials” will immediately follow the September… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe European Commission (EC) announced on June 15, 2018, that researchers from the European Union (EU)-funded NANOPACK project found a solution for extending food shelf-life by using smart antimicrobial surfaces applied to active food packaging. According to the EC, the researchers are now running five pilot production runs of the new polymer composite, based on… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchNanoMONITOR announced on June 25, 2018, that the NanoMONITOR Monitoring Station is available upon request to use in facilities to obtain robust data on the concentration of engineered nanomaterials. NanoMONITOR’s brochure states that access is provided on a transnational basis with no charge to the user. According to NanoMONITOR, by developing a real-time information and… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchOn June 11, 2018, the European Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced that its website now features the following two searchable databases, NanoData and eNanoMapper: NanoData: Contains data on different products, research projects, publications, patents, and companies, and helps users to visualize statistics through built-in charts and graphs. The data can also be filtered by different… Continue Reading
