May 17, 2007

European Commission Publishes Results of Intellectual Property Rights Workshop

On May 10, 2007, the European Commission (EC) announced the availability of the results of its April 16, 2007, workshop on intellectual property rights (IPR) in nanotechnology. The objective of the workshop was to identify specific IPR issues for nanotechnology and to discuss possible consequences for patent offices, policy makers, patent consultants, and the research community.  Ongoing academic and political discussions have identified many aspects, such as the costs of...
May 16, 2007

Researchers Review Environmental and Human Health Knowledge Base of Carbon Nanotubes

On May 10, 2007, EHP-in-Press posted an article entitled “Reviewing the Environmental and Human Health Knowledge Base of Carbon Nanotubes.” The authors reviewed the currently available literature about the human health and environmental risk potential of carbon nanotubes (CNT). The authors also investigated the life cycle of the CNT, as release into different environmental compartments may occur at the production stages as well as the product’s usage and disposal...
May 15, 2007

ED Will Hold Webcast on REACH, TSCA, and CEPA Best Practices

Environmental Defense (ED) will hold a webcast regarding its recent report, Not That Innocent: A Comparative Analysis of Canadian, European Union and United States Policies on Industrial Chemicals, on May 24, 2007, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (EDT). The webcast will include a 45-minute presentation and a question and answer period. Dr. Richard Denison, Senior Scientist at ED, will present the findings and discuss his report, which compares the European Union’s new...
May 11, 2007

EC Releases Strategy for Communication Outreach in Nanotechnology

On May 4, 2007, the European Commission (EC) released a document entitled Strategy for Communication Outreach in Nanotechnology, which is a working paper from the EC’s February 6, 2007, workshop. The paper includes recommendations for future European funding on appropriate communication and innovative approaches to engage the European civil society in a dialogue on nanotechnology, including:  surveying the public; developing new models and tools for communication; developing the...
May 10, 2007

City of Berkeley Issues Manufactured Nanoscale Material Reporting Guidance

The Toxics Management Division (TMD) in the City of Berkeley’s Planning and Development Department has issued guidance on the nanoparticle municipal ordinance that the Berkeley City Council adopted on December 12, 2006. Under the ordinance, facilities that manufacture or use “manufactured nanoparticles” must submit to the TMD “a separate written disclosure of the current toxicology of the materials reported, to the extent known, and how the facility will safely handle,...
May 9, 2007

Pesticidal Clothing on the Way?

An undergraduate fashion design student, a fiber science professor, and a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University in New York have teamed up to design what may very well be the world’s first garment “that can prevent colds and flu.” According to a May 1, 2007, news release, the three collaborators produced a dress from cotton fabrics that had been coated with silver nanoparticles. Silver, of course, is a well-known antimicrobial. Cotton fibers were positively...
May 2, 2007

Regulatory Agenda Includes Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program

On April 30, 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register its latest Semiannual Regulatory Agenda, which serves to update the public on regulations and major policies currently under development by EPA.  One of the entries in the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA ) portion of the agenda is entitled “Nanoscale Materials Under TSCA” and addresses the forthcoming Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program (NMSP), the design of...
April 25, 2007

Few Submissions Made Under UK’s Voluntary Reporting Scheme

On April 3, 2007, the United Kingdom’s (UK) Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) released its second quarterly update on the Voluntary Reporting Scheme (VRS) for engineered nanoscale materials. According to the update, DEFRA has received a total of six submissions since VRS’s launch in September 2006, four of which were from industry and two from academia. DEFRA has liaised with groups representing the UK nanotechnologies industry and has...
April 25, 2007

European Commission Seeks Comment on Nanomaterials Risk Evaluation Report

On April 11, 2007, the European Commission (EC) announced that the report prepared by the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) regarding the appropriateness of the risk assessment methodology for assessing the risks of nanomaterials is available for comment. Comments are due May 23, 2007. EC states that the report “provides the Commission with a sound scientific approach on how to modify the Technical Guidance Documents of the EU...
April 25, 2007

EPA Requests Stakeholders to Resubscribe to E-Mail Notification List

On April 16, 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that, due to a technical problem, it is unable to verify receipt of contact information from anyone who subscribed to the e-mail notification list on the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) Nanotechnology web page from October 18 to November 1, 2006, and again from January 18 to January 23, 2007.  According to EPA, it has corrected the problem and is now compiling a list...