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On June 16, 2009, the Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN) released a report entitled Bridging the Credibility Gap:  Eight Corporate Liability Accounting Loopholes that Regulators Must Close, which discusses the effect of undisclosed potential and pending liabilities on investors. The report identifies eight regulatory loopholes that businesses could use to hide future liabilities from an investor’s risk assessment. Two case studies for asbestos and nanomaterials...

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will hold an October 8-9, 2008, workshop regarding enabling standards for nanomaterial characterization.  According to the workshop overview, there is an “urgent need” to elevate new protocols and practices for characterizing the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials, and their in vitro and in vivo properties with respect to biological systems, to that of internationally accepted standards to accelerate research,...

The August 2008 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives includes an article entitled “Nano-Food Chain Link Examined,” which reports on recent research by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) regarding whether nanomaterials biomagnify in the food chain. NIST reports that certain nanomaterials may not accumulate in the food chain, but notes that additional research is necessary before any generalizations can be made regarding environmental and human safety of...

According to a report recently released by the Danish Ministry of Health and Prevention, nanotechnology research, development, and applications are covered by existing legislation. The report, which includes an English summary, reviews existing national and international legislation in the areas of foods, medicines, the environment, chemicals, and the working environment in relation to current knowledge of nanotechnological products and processes.  The report also includes a...

On December 19, 2007, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published a report entitled Characterising the Potential Risks Posed by Engineered Nanoparticles: A Second UK Government Research Report, which follows up on DEFRA’s 2005 report and 2006 progress report. The report reviews the status of research pertaining to the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) issues relating to engineered nanoparticles, and places the United Kingdom’s (UK) research...

In a recent speech at the 9th Annual Food Regulation and Labeling Standards Conference, Steve McCutcheon, CEO of Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), said that FSANZ has begun analyzing the potential implications of nanotechnology on the food supply chain. FSANZ hopes that, by the time it receives its first application to approve the use of the technology in food, it will already have sufficient scientific and medical information to make an informed decision....