By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,United StatesEffective April 15, 2018, Chuck Geraci, Ph.D., CIH, will be the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Associate Director for Emerging Technologies. As Associate Director for Emerging Technologies, Dr. Geraci will be responsible for the planning, direction, and execution of emerging technology research activities at NIOSH, advising the NIOSH Director. Emerging technologies with… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Occupational Health and Safety Issues,United StatesThe May 13-16, 2018, TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo will include a panel discussion on “Safety in Advanced Manufacturing: A Profit Maker or a Profit Taker?” as part of the advanced manufacturing symposium. The panel discussion, which will be held on May 16, 2018, will provide a forum to examine existing health and safety… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,United StatesOn March 15, 2018, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) announced the availability of the draft National Occupational Research Agenda for Respiratory Health for public comment. The National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) is a partnership program created to stimulate innovative research and improved workplace practices. The draft NORA for Respiratory Health is… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,United StatesAs reported in our March 13, 2018, blog item, on March 9, 2018, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published three documents in its Workplace Design Solutions series that address nanomaterials. On March 12, 2018, NIOSH announced the availability of the new Workplace Design Solutions documents, as well as a poster, “Controlling… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,United StatesThe National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) began its Prevention through Design (PtD) initiative in 2007. NIOSH states that its mission is to reduce or prevent occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities by considering hazard prevention in the design, re-design, and retrofit of new and existing workplaces, tools, equipment, and work processes. On March… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesThe U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published a Federal Register notice on March 1, 2018, announcing that it will hold a public hearing on April 11, 2018, to receive comments about CPSC’s agenda and priorities for fiscal years (FY) 2019-2020. CPSC’s Fiscal Year 2019 Performance Budget Request to Congress states that CPSC “will continue… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget proposal on February 12, 2018. According to EPA’s press release, the proposed budget will provide $6.146 billion to support EPA’s new FY 2018-2022 Strategic Plan and mission of protecting human health and the environment. EPA states that the “Back-to-Basic” agenda set out… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,United StatesOn March 20, 2018, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Nanotechnology Standards Panel (ANSI-NSP) will meet at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. The focus of the meeting will be to consider the observations from the February 28, 2017, ANSI-NSP meeting on graphene standards, including the following issues: Terminology; Characterization methods; and Information… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,Research,United StatesOn February 12, 2018, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) posted its Fiscal Year 2017 Annual Performance Report. According to the Report, in fiscal year (FY) 2017, CPSC exceeded its target of five collaborations by establishing seven research collaborations on the environmental health and safety of nanomaterials. The collaborations “will increase knowledge of the… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,United StatesThe National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a Federal Register notice on January 31, 2018, announcing the availability of the final National Occupational Research Agenda for Manufacturing. NIOSH states that the National Occupational Research Agenda for Manufacturing “is intended to identify the knowledge and actions most urgently needed to identify occupational risk… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Legal/Regulatory Issues,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,United StatesThe American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH®) Threshold Limit Values for Chemical Substances (TLV®-CS) Committee has included carbon nanotubes on its 2018 list of chemical substances and other issues under study. Being placed on the under study list indicates that the TLV®-CS Committee has selected carbon nanotubes for development of a threshold limit value… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Legal/Regulatory Issues,United StatesThe Office of Science and Technology Policy published a Federal Register notice on January 23, 2018, announcing that the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), on behalf of the Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee of the Committee on Technology, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), “will facilitate stakeholder discussion of targeted nanotechnology topics through… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Legal/Regulatory Issues,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,United StatesCharles Geraci, PhD, CIH, FAIHA, Associate Director for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and Laura Hodson, MSPH, CIH, FAIHA, Coordinator of the NIOSH Nanotechnology Research Center, co-authored an article entitled “From ‘Just in Time’ to ‘Just Next Door’: 21st-century Manufacturing Challenges and Opportunities for Industrial Hygienists.” … Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,International,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,United StatesOn December 15, 2017, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) posted a blog item entitled “WHO Guidelines to Protect Workers from Nanomaterials.” As reported in our December 13, 2017, blog item, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently published WHO Guidelines on Protecting Workers from Potential Risks of Manufactured Nanomaterials. NIOSH Director John… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Legal/Regulatory Issues,United StatesOn December 18, 2017, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a Federal Register notice announcing the availability of a draft guidance for industry entitled “Drug Products, Including Biological Products, That Contain Nanomaterials: Guidance for Industry.” According to the notice, FDA developed the guidance to provide industry with its current thinking for the development of… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Legal/Regulatory Issues,United StatesThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is scheduled to publish a Federal Register notice announcing the availability of a draft guidance for industry entitled “Drug Products, Including Biological Products, that Contain Nanomaterials.” According to the pre-publication version of the notice, FDA developed the guidance to provide industry with its current thinking for the development of… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesOn November 30, 2017, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) published a supplement to the President’s 2018 budget. The supplement also serves as NNI’s annual report and summarizes the progress made in achieving NNI’s goals, the research and development (R&D) activities and plans of the participating agencies, and the agency investments in each program component area. … Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesNanotechnology The National Science Foundation (NSF) Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NSE) grantees conference on progress in nanotechnology will be held December 12-13, 2017. The conference will highlight the research and education activities of ongoing NSE grant projects. It will include a combination of keynotes, panels, posters, program information sessions, discussions of research trends, and… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Legal/Regulatory Issues,State,United StatesAs reported in our October 20, 2017, memorandum, “California and New York Require Manufacturers to Disclose Ingredients in Cleaning Products,” on April 25, 2017, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) announced the Household Cleansing Product Information Disclosure Program. The Program will require manufacturers of household cleansing products sold in New York to disclose the chemical… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Legal/Regulatory Issues,United StatesThe Sixth Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO) Conference will be held November 5-7, 2017, in Los Angeles, California. According to SNO, the Conference sessions represent a hybrid of topics on selected “systems” that contribute to sustainability and more traditional topics. Sessions will be populated with talks on applications, effects and implications, analytical methods, and lifecycle aspects… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Research,United StatesAs reported in our August 30, 2017, blog item, the “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… Continue Reading
By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton on Posted in Federal,Legal/Regulatory Issues,Occupational Health and Safety Issues,United StatesOn October 3, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated a final significant new use rule (SNUR) under Section 5(a)(2) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for the chemical substance identified generically as bimodal mixture consisting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and other classes of carbon nanotubes (CNT), which was the subject of… Continue Reading
