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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has updated its “Guidance on risk assessment of nanomaterials to be applied in the food and feed chain: human and animal health.” The updated guidance, published on August 3, 2021, covers the application areas within EFSA’s remit, including novel foods, food contact materials, food and feed additives,…

The SUSNANOFAB project, funded by the European Union’s (EU) Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program, is conducting a survey on industrial needs. The SUSNANOFAB project intends to create a nanofabrication ecosystem that will include an integrated roadmap of the relevant public and private initiatives at the EU level and with international cooperation. According to…

On May 31, 2021, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “Updating our language: why we should not paint all nanoforms with the same brush” by Chiara Venturini, Director General of the Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA). Venturini reviews how the EU’s language has evolved. In 2011, the European…

On March 19, 2021, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “ECETOC task force ensures society benefits from safe nanomaterials via efficient safety assessments that require minimal animal testing” by authors from BASF and the Center for Chemical Safety Assessment (ECETOC).  The column reviews ways to assess the…

The European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced on March 19, 2021, that it is looking for topic suggestions that could be addressed in its upcoming studies.  According to EUON, up to three studies are conducted annually to address knowledge gaps on nanomaterials that are of interest to the general public and the research…

The Verband der Mineralfarbenindustrie e. V. (VdMi), which represents German manufacturers of inorganic, organic, and metallic pigments, fillers, carbon black, ceramic and glass colors, food colorants, artists’ and school paints, masterbatches, and products for applied photocatalysis, has published a “Comparative Compilation of relevant nano definitions in different regulations and their corresponding consequences.”  The compilation notes…

On February 19, 2021, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “eREACHNano helps you to register nanoforms under REACH” by Dorte Rasmussen, Ph.D., who has been working on the exposure and risk assessment of chemicals at DHI A/S for almost 25 years.  Rasmussen describes eREACHNano, a tool developed…

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has published the latest edition of the Developments in Delegations on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials — Tour de Table.  The Tour de Table compiles information provided by delegations on the occasion of the 20th meeting of the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) in…

In December 2020, the European Commission (EC) Directorate-General (DG) for Research and Innovation opened a call for tenders for “Providing market data about nanotechnology to enhance transparency.”  The description states that the study on nanotechnology/nanomaterials is aimed to provide a new set of data from the period of 2017 to 2020 into the…

On January 20, 2021, Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe and 12 other health, environment, and justice organizations sent a letter to Bjorn Hansen, Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) “seeking clarifications on both the applicable legal framework and risk management measures in place, for nano/biocidal-treated articles in the context of the current…