By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesThe National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold a webinar on July 27, 2017, entitled “The National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) Nodes and Environmental Research: Examples from the Field.” The National Science Foundation (NSF) supports NNCI, which includes 16 user facility sites, their affiliated partners, and a coordinating office. NNCI sites provide researchers, academics, small and… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe Journal of Nanobiotechnology published a special issue on the outcome of Switzerland’s five-year National Research Program on the “Opportunities and Risks of Nanomaterials” (NRP 64). The editorial states that the Program’s primary goal was to investigate potential applications of existing nanomaterials in healthcare, the consumer industry, and in the environment, and to identify, characterize,… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT) seeks comments on the NANoREG-proposed ISA-TAB-nano templates. According to CEINT, the ISA-TAB-nano file sharing format, developed under the National Cancer Informatics Program Nanotechnology Working Group (NCIP NanoWG), is an accepted ASTM standard (ASTM International E2909-13). In 2016, the European Union NANoREG project adopted and adapted the… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently published standard ISO/TR 19601:2017, “Nanotechnologies — Aerosol generation for air exposure studies of nano-objects and their aggregates and agglomerates (NOAA).” ISO states that, to evaluate the inhalation toxicity of NOAA, it is important to consider certain parameters that make the toxicity testing relevant to human exposure. Three critical… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchThe World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Program on Chemical Safety (IPCS) published a draft Environmental Health Criteria (EHC) Document, Principles and Methods to Assess the Risk of Immunotoxicity Associated with Exposure to Nanomaterials. According to IPCS, the target audience is risk assessors in a regulatory setting, researchers, and industry that needs to provide the data… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,ResearchOn June 14, 2017, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced the launch of the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON). ECHA states that EUON “offers a unique web-based information point with factual and neutral content about nanomaterials on the EU market.” EUON is targeted at a wide audience, including consumers, workers, regulators, and scientists. … Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently announced publication of standard ISO/TS 18827:2017, “Nanotechnologies — Electron spin resonance (ESR) as a method for measuring reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by metal oxide nanomaterials.” The introduction states that the use of metal or metal oxide-based nanomaterials has dramatically increased in biomedical and industrial applications. The scientific… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,ResearchGermany’s Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) has published the final report for the project “Methodology for the Identification of Granular Biopersistent Particles (GBP) at Workplaces.” The final report states that the category includes respirable granular biopersistent particles without known significant specific toxicity. This category comprises various materials such as minerals, metals, metal… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Research,United StatesRegistration is now open for a May 24, 2017, webinar on “An Introduction to Voluntary Standards and Their Role in Enhancing the Quality of Scientific Research.” According to the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), the safe development and commercialization of nanotechnology depends on the availability of internationally agreed upon standards. Such standards enable the use… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Research,United StatesNanoImpact has published a special issue based on work presented at the Eighth International Congress of Nanotoxicology, which was held June 2-4, 2016, in Boston, Massachusetts. The theme was “A Decade of Nanotoxicology: Impact on Human Health and the Environment.” The Editorial by the associate guest editors, Dhimiter Bello and David T. Leong, states that… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in ResearchThe American Chemical Society (ACS) announced on May 3, 2017, publication of an article entitled “Inhaled Nanoparticles Accumulate at Sites of Vascular Disease” in ACS Nano. According to ACS, scientists have found evidence in human and animal studies that inhaled nanoparticles can travel from the lungs into the bloodstream, potentially explaining the link between air… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe May 1, 2017, issue of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) TechDirect includes an item on the availability of the Taking Nanotechnological Remediation Processes from Lab Scale to End User Applications for the Restoration of a Clean Environment (NanoRem) Toolbox. NanoRem is a research project funded through the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Program for… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,Research,United StatesOn April 12, 2017, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC) held its 68th meeting. The BSC’s primary activity is to provide advice on NIOSH’s occupational safety and health research and prevention programs. The BSC also advises on standards of scientific excellence, current needs in the field of… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,ResearchNanoMONITOR, a project partly funded by the European Commission Life+ with grant agreement LIFE14 ENV/ES/000662, is intended to develop a real-time information and monitoring system to support the risk assessment of nanomaterials under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation. The overall objective of the NanoMONITOR project is to improve the use… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchOn June 2, 2017, the National Research Program “Opportunities and Risks of Nanomaterials” (NRP 64) will hold a closure event, parallel to the Swiss Nano Convention, which will be held June 1-2, 2017. NRP 64 began its research work in December 2010 and has studied the development, use, behavior, and degradation of synthetic nanomaterials, as… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,ResearchOn March 7, 2017, the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) published the final report for Project 2013-0059, “The Development and Validation of Methods for Sampling and Characterizing Engineered Nanomaterials in Air and on Workplace Surfaces.” The report is available in French, but the abstract is available in English. … Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesThe Congressional Research Service (CRS) prepared a March 14, 2017, report entitled Science and Technology Issues in the 115th Congress. The report outlines science and technology policy issues that may come before the 115th Congress. The report notes that, given the rapid pace of science and technology advancement and its importance in many diverse public… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,ResearchNanoMONITOR’s first stakeholders’ day, April 4, 2017, will include a workshop on “Development of a real-time information and monitoring system to support the risk assessment of nanomaterials under REACH.” The overall aim of the NanoMONITOR project is to develop a prototype system to generate robust, accessible, comparable, and interoperable environmental and indoor air monitoring data… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchOn March 9, 2017, the NanoSafety Cluster published its 2017 Research Regulatory Roadmap. The purpose of the Roadmap is to identify both ongoing and complete activities associated with the development of regulations promoting the safety of nanomaterials. The Roadmap identifies research areas or priorities that need to be addressed further to facilitate this process. According… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,OECD,ResearchOn February 23, 2017, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) issued a press release announcing a new report, commissioned by CIEL, the European Environmental Citizens’ Organization for Standardization (ECOS), and the Oeko-Institute, that “shows that most of the information made available by the Sponsorship Testing Programme of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,Research,United StatesOn February 27, 2017, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) announced the availability of a draft chapter to be published in the NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods entitled “Analysis of Carbon Nanotubes and Nanofibers on Mixed Cellulose Ester Filters by Transmission Electron Microscopy” for public comment. The draft chapter provides standardized approaches for the… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,ResearchThe Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) published a news item on January 16, 2017, entitled “Nanoparticles — to handle with care.” IRSST states that although research is still in development, it appears that nanoparticles can enter the respiratory tract or penetrate through the skin and make their way to the bloodstream, which may carry the… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in OECD,ResearchThe Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a report entitled Alternative Testing Strategies in Risk Assessment of Manufactured Nanomaterials: Current State of Knowledge and Research Needs to Advance Their Use. Experts from academia, industry, public interest groups, and government researched, analyzed, and discussed how alternative models could be used to advance the risk… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe fifth Nanosafe conference was held November 7-10, 2016, in Grenoble, France. The conference included panel discussions on responsible development with non-governmental organizations; urban particles mitigation: what is reasonably possible; and nanomedicine: benefit-risk. Topics addressed during the conference included: Measurement and characterization of nano objects; Exposure; Manufactured nano objects: Release from nano-enabled products; Safer by… Continue Reading
