By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchOn October 24, 2017, the Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA) will hold a webinar on Safe by Design for nanomaterials. NIA states that the webinar is free and open to all actors interested in nanomaterials and their safe management throughout their lifecycle, using the principles of Safe by Design from the earliest development stages. According to… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,ResearchThe International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published standard ISO/TS 80004-13:2017, “Nanotechnologies — Vocabulary — Part 13: Graphene and related two-dimensional (2D) materials.” According to ISO, over the last decade, interest has arisen in graphene due to its “many exceptional properties.” More recently, other materials with a similar structure have also shown promising properties, including… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchThe Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) announced on September 6, 2017, that an RIVM researcher, Joris Meesters, modified SimpleBox, a distribution model for chemicals, to create SimpleBox4nano, a model to calculate concentrations of nanoparticles in water, soil, and air. SimpleBox4nano includes new processes that specifically apply to nanoparticles, such as… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in ResearchOn August 30, 2017, Environmental Science & Technology, an American Chemical Society (ACS) publication, published a study entitled “Characterization and Control of Nanoparticle Emission during 3D Printing.” According to the abstract, the study aimed to evaluate particle emission characteristics and to evaluate several control methods used to reduce particle emissions during three-dimensional (3D) printing. Experiments… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchThe European Commission (EC) Environment Directorate General (DG) published an August 2017 report entitled Assessing the environmental safety of manufactured nanomaterials. The report “shows that, despite early fears, nano-sized particles are not inherently more toxic than larger particles; however, differences between them may be notable and new insights are still being provided by research.” The… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchThe International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published standard ISO/TS 20477:2017, “Nanotechnologies — Standard terms and their definition for cellulose nanomaterial.” The standard states that in industrial productions, cellulose nanomaterials can be manufactured by conversion of wood pulp through chemical, biological, or mechanical processes. Due to their renewable nature and unique properties, cellulose nanomaterials have… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesThe “Technology Development Pathways: Case Studies from the [National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)]” workshop will be held November 1, 2017. According to NNI, the workshop will showcase application areas where nanotechnology has had commercial impact. Keynote presentations will highlight the pathways companies have taken to get from research to commercialization. Panel discussions will focus on specific… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,Research,United StatesOn August 23, 2017, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a Federal Register notice requesting comment on its draft National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) for Manufacturing for public comment. The NORA Manufacturing Sector Council wrote the Agenda, which “identifies the most important occupational safety and health research needs for the next… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesOn July 20, 2017, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced 13 grants worth $4.6 million for research on the next generation of agricultural technologies and systems to meet the growing demand for food, fuel, and fiber. NIFA states that funded projects support nanotechnology-based solutions that improve… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in International,Legal/Regulatory Issues,ResearchIn July 2017, the European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) published a report entitled Evaluation of the availability and applicability of computational approaches in the safety assessment of nanomaterials: Final report of the Nanocomput project. The main aims of the Nanocomput Project were to review and assess the current status of computational methods that… Continue Reading
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
