As You Sow, a non-governmental organization (NGO), has published a framework providing guidelines intended for food and food packaging companies to assess exposure to and potential risks from food and food packaging products containing nanomaterials. According to As Your Sow, more than a dozen food companies, scientific organizations, and investor groups reviewed the framework, including: Kraft, McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Whole Foods, and Yum! Brands; the Center for Food Safety, Consumers Union, Project on Emerging Nanotechnology, International Center for Technology Assessment, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Technical University of Denmark; As You Sow, Calvert Investments, and the Investor Environmental Health Network. The framework offers tiered recommendations of steps companies should take and information they should obtain from their suppliers regarding the safety testing of nanomaterials and products containing nanomaterials. As You Sow recommends that, until there are “firm regulatory requirements and/or a central repository for safety data on nanomaterials, information requested in this framework should be provided to food and food packaging companies by their suppliers.”
non-governmental organization
NanoCap and EP Will Hold Conference on Working and Living with Nanotechnologies
By Lynn L. Bergeson on
On April 2, 2009, NanoCap and the European Parliament (EP) will hold a conference entitled “Working and Living with Nanotechnologies: Trade Union and NGO positions.” The conference objectives are to present positions and perspectives on nanotechnologies at the workplace and in the environment adopted by European trade unions and environmental non-governmental organizations (NGO), including:
- Setting
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NGOs Call for Obama Administration to Establish Moratorium on Pesticidal Nanotechnology
By Lynn L. Bergeson on
According to a draft January 7, 2009, document, non-governmental organizations (NGO) such as Beyond Pesticides and the Pesticide Action Network for North America recommend that the Obama Administration take a number of immediate actions within its first 100 days, including establishing a moratorium on pesticidal nanotechnology. The NGOs call for the suspension of the registration of…
EPA Provides Summary of August 2007 NMSP Meeting
By Lynn L. Bergeson on
Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed in the docket a report summarizing remarks and public comments made during the August 2, 2007, meeting on the Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program (NMSP). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss and receive comments on the development of the voluntary NMSP. The intent of the report is…