Nano and Other Emerging Chemical Technologies Blog

This week’s All Things Chemical™ Podcast will be of interest to readers of the Nano and Other Emerging Chemical Technologies Blog.  A brief description of the episode written by Lynn L. Bergeson is below. This week I sat down with Vincent Caprio, Founder and Executive Director of the NanoBusiness Commercialization Association (NanoBCA).  Vince has been on the forefront of nano innovations and optimizing opportunities for businesses to commercialize their nano creations for...

According to the Summer 2020 edition of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) Quarterly Newsletter, the 2020-2021 National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) nanomaterial environmental, health, and safety (nanoEHS) webinars will begin in November 2020.  According to the Newsletter, the Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications (NEHI) Working Group is planning nanoEHS webinars to present progress in the following areas:  nanomaterial...

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has posted the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (BAuA) substance evaluation conclusion document for multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), synthetic graphite in tubular shape and tangled.  The conclusion provides a summary of how the information on the substance can be used for the purposes of regulatory risk management. Concern(s) Subject to Evaluation MWCNTs were originally selected for substance evaluation to...

On August 31, 2020, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “Nanosilver in healthcare — does the silver bullet exist?” by Dr. Dorota Napierska, Chemicals Policy and Projects Officer, Health Care Without Harm Europe (HCWH Europe).  Napierska examines how beneficial the properties of nanosilver are in clinical settings and the risks involved.  Napierska notes that a key point in assessing the toxicity of nanosilver is to adopt...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on August 27, 2020, that it submitted an information collection request (ICR), “Chemical-Specific Rules under the Toxic Substances Control Act Section 8(a); Certain Nanoscale Materials” to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).  85 Fed. Reg. 52995.  The ICR covers reporting and recordkeeping requirements for persons who manufacture or...

The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) and European Commission (EC) have organized the ninth annual meeting of the environmental, health, and safety effects of nanomaterials (nanoEHS) Communities of Research (COR) as a virtual workshop on September 16-17, 2020.  According to NNI, as the nanoEHS research ecosystem continues to evolve, the workshop will identify future needs and opportunities.  Conversations will further address how the lessons learned from...

The European Union’s (EU) Horizon 2020 project GRACIOUS has launched its stakeholder engagement platform and started an open consultation on the GRACIOUS Framework.  The GRACIOUS project invites stakeholders from industry, regulators, policy makers, consultants, non-governmental organizations (NGO), and academia to use the platform to provide their opinions on the progress within the project, including whether the structure of the GRACIOUS Framework is “clear and...

The European Union (EU)-funded projects NanoHarmony and NANOMET-Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have jointly organized a September 16, 2020, webinar on “The Pathway to Test Guidelines:  from science to standards for nanomaterials.”  Participants will learn how OECD develops Test Guidelines, using case studies from the Test Guidelines that are supported through the projects for expansion into nanomaterials.  The webinar will explain how novel...

The European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) and the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (RTD) will jointly organize a virtual “Workshop on Safe and Sustainable Smart Nanomaterials” on September 9-10, 2020.  The workshop is focused on smart (responsive, multi-functional) nanomaterials, as such or embedded in products, that are developed for application in industrial sectors such as agriculture, food, packaging, and cosmetics.  The program is...

The NanoExplore project, which is supported by the European Union’s (EU) LIFE program, aims at an integrated approach for exposure and health effects monitoring of engineered and incidental nanomaterials in occupational settings.  The project is currently in its pilot phase.  According to NanoExplore, the pilot study will take place following a two-step procedure over two field campaigns separated by a six- or nine-month interval.  Each field campaign will last for four...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a report entitled Nanotechnology — Over a Decade of Progress and Innovation that highlights FDA’s advancements in the field of nanotechnology since it released its last report in 2007.  The report also reviews FDA’s role in advancing the public health through its regulation of products within its jurisdiction that involve the application of nanotechnology.  According to the report, FDA “will rely on a combination...

The Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme (AICIS) took effect on July 1, 2020.  Under AICIS, companies that import or manufacture (including introduce) industrial chemicals, or products that release industrial chemicals, into Australia for commercial purposes should first check whether the industrial chemical is listed on the Inventory.  If the chemical is on the Inventory and the introduction meets the terms of Inventory listing, the introduction is automatically...

As reported in our February 5, 2020, blog item, the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH®) Threshold Limit Values for Chemical Substances (TLV®-CS) Committee included carbon nanotubes on its 2020 list of chemical substances and other issues under study.  Being placed on the under study list indicated that the TLV®-CS Committee had selected carbon nanotubes for development of a threshold limit value (TLV®).  ACGIH® has now released...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published two guidance documents in its series on testing and assessment: Guidance Document on Aquatic and Sediment Toxicological Testing of Nanomaterials (No. 317): The guidance document addresses practical aspects of carrying out valid tests with manufactured nanomaterials, as well as modifications or additions to OECD Test Guideline procedures intended to improve incrementally the accuracy, intra-laboratory...

On July 23, 2020, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “Material manufacturing from nano-scaled particles:  moving forward using plants” by Dr. Blaise Tardy, Research Fellow, Bio-Based Colloids and Materials Research Group — Aalto University in Finland.  Dr. Tardy notes that bio-based nanomaterials such as nanocellulose “have shown great promise in forming high performance materials, with the potential to replace...

The July 2020 issue of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Environmental Factor includes an item on a new database that facilitates nanomaterial research.  According to the article, NIEHS grantees constructed PubVINAS, “a large database of structure, chemical property, and activity information on 705 nanomaterials, covering 11 material types.”  The article states that the extensive data on each material “allows scientists...

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has begun a public consultation on a draft document entitled “EFSA Guidance on Technical Requirements for Regulated Food and Feed Product Applications to Establish the Presence of Small Particles Including Nanoparticles.”  The draft Guidance sets out information requirements for applications in the regulated food and feed product areas and establishes criteria for assessing the presence of a fraction of small particles.  EFSA...

On August 19 and 20, 2020, the American National Standards Institute Nanotechnology Standards Panel (ANSI-NSP) will hold a virtual workshop on advanced materials.  ANSI states that advanced materials are of growing interest as there is increasing recognition that size alone does not define the unique properties of a material.  More and more, governments and organizations that originally focused on nanomaterials are now also focusing on advanced materials and emerging...

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published two nanotechnology standards: ISO 21363:2020, “Nanotechnologies — Measurements of particle size and shape distributions by transmission electron microscopy”: The standard specifies how to capture, measure, and analyze transmission electron microscopy images to obtain particle size and shape distributions in the nanoscale.  According to ISO, the standard is broadly applicable to nano-objects, as well as to particles...

The Nanodatabase has posted a June 1, 2020, press release announcing that it has added product number 4,000 in its database.  According to the press release, silver is still the nanomaterial most often reported, with titanium and titanium dioxide the second and third most common.  The press release notes that for almost 3,000 products, the type of nanomaterial is unknown, however.  The database includes categories for health and fitness (2,310 products, a little more...