Regulatory & legal developments involving nano and other emerging chemical technologies
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Nanotechnology Task Force is celebrating NanoDay on October 9, 2020, by hosting a virtual research symposium to showcase more than a decade of progress and innovation in nanotechnology at FDA. The agenda lists the following presentations:
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The National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on August 24, 2020, that it will invest a total of $84 million over five years in a renewal of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI). According to NSF, “NNCI’s 16 sites and coordinating office provide researchers from academia, large and small businesses, and government with access to leading-edge…
On September 15, 2020, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) called for grant proposals on the use of new approach methodologies (NAM) for the hazard assessment of cellulose nanofibers. EFSA states that the use of cellulose at the nanoscale is increasing and requires an assessment. According to EFSA, the main concern is that the nanoscale…
According to the Summer 2020 edition of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) Quarterly Newsletter, the 2020-2021 National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) nanomaterial environmental, health, and safety (nanoEHS) webinars will begin in November 2020. According to the Newsletter, the Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications (NEHI) Working Group is planning nanoEHS webinars to present progress in…
The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) and European Commission (EC) have organized the ninth annual meeting of the environmental, health, and safety effects of nanomaterials (nanoEHS) Communities of Research (COR) as a virtual workshop on September 16-17, 2020. According to NNI, as the nanoEHS research ecosystem continues to evolve, the workshop will identify future…
The European Union (EU)-funded projects NanoHarmony and NANOMET-Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have jointly organized a September 16, 2020, webinar on “The Pathway to Test Guidelines: from science to standards for nanomaterials.” Participants will learn how OECD develops Test Guidelines, using case studies from the Test Guidelines that are supported…
The NanoExplore project, which is supported by the European Union’s (EU) LIFE program, aims at an integrated approach for exposure and health effects monitoring of engineered and incidental nanomaterials in occupational settings. The project is currently in its pilot phase. According to NanoExplore, the pilot study will take place following a two-step procedure over…
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…
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published two guidance documents in its series on testing and assessment:
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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…
