Nano and Other Emerging Chemical Technologies Blog

On December 5, 2023, the European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) began a public consultation on its preliminary opinion on titanium dioxide. Comments on the preliminary opinion are due February 6, 2024. The preliminary opinion includes the following questions from the EC and SCCS’s conclusions: Q: In light of the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) opinion on genotoxicity concerns for E171, does SCCS consider titanium dioxide safe in oral cosmetic...

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) announced on December 4, 2023, a series of events to drive U.S. leadership in nanotechnology, in celebration of the 20-year anniversary of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act. The announcement notes that for the past two decades, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) “has worked with more than 20 departments and agencies to advance a vision...

The Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA) will hold its 2023 Symposium on December 5, 2023. Open to the public, the agenda for the Symposium includes: Registration is open. Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. is a proud member of NIA....

On November 20, 2023, the European Commission (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) announced that the EC requested that it carry out a safety assessment on hydroxyapatite (nano) in view of new information provided. As reported in our March 24, 2023, blog item, according to SCCS’s March 2023 final opinion on hydroxyapatite (nano), based on the data provided, SCCS considers hydroxyapatite (nano) safe when used at concentrations up to ten percent in toothpaste, and...

NanoHarmony announced on November 10, 2023, the release of the NanoHarmony OECD TG/GD Process Mentor, an interactive web-based tool to guide stakeholders through the development process of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Test Guidelines (TG) and Guidance Documents (GD). NanoHarmony states that it developed the NanoHarmony OECD TG/GD Process Mentor to highlight the involvement of key institutions in the OECD Test Guidelines Programme, and their incentives to take part...

On November 8, 2023, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a report entitled Approaches to safe 3D printing: a guide for makerspace users, schools, libraries, and small businesses. According to NIOSH, use of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology is becoming a prominent part of the modern world. NIOSH notes that some 3D printer users have expressed concerns about potential exposures to ultrafine particles, chemicals, and safety hazards, however. NIOSH...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) has rescheduled its symposium entitled “Enabling the Nanotechnology Revolution: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act” to March 5, 2024, at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. According to NNI, the symposium will bring together “experts who can speak on the importance of nanotechnology in quantum engineering, optics, EHS, plastics, DEIA, microelectronics,...

The European Union (EU) NanoSafety Cluster (NSC) announced on October 24, 2023, that it is conducting a survey on the implementation of nanosafety in workplaces. NSC states that the survey aims to gather insights on the current practices and challenges of implementing nanosafety in workplaces. According to NSC, responses will help shape recommendations for future safety guidelines and protocols. NSC notes that participation will take approximately 15-20 minutes....

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has posted two new reports in its Series on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials:...

NanoHarmony published on October 13, 2023, a white paper entitled From Science to Regulation: The NanoHarmony White Paper on Test Guideline Development. NanoHarmony states that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Test Guidelines (TG) Programme helps to develop harmonized agreed methods that can be used by OECD member countries to implement their regulatory regimes. According to NanoHarmony, for regulations to be effective and for manufacturers to be able to...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) Nanoinformatics Conference will be held November 15, 2023, immediately before the 11th meeting of the U.S.-European Union (EU) Nano Environmental, Health, and Safety (NanoEHS) Communities of Research (COR) on November 16-17, 2023. According to the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), the Nanoinformatics Conference is being organized in support of the continued growth of the U.S. nanoinformatics research infrastructure and to foster...

The European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced on October 10, 2023, that it published “A study on valid in silico modelling tools and read-across approaches, including creation of case studies on read-across for specific (types of) nanomaterials” that analyzes read-across and in silico approaches as alternative methods to conventional hazard and risk assessments for nanomaterials. According to EUON, the study identifies 190 alternative models and methodologies for...

Registration is open for Nano4EARTH’s November 2, 2023, roundtable discussion on nanotechnology-enabled greenhouse gas (GHG) capture technologies that could help accelerate net-zero goals. The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) states that although full-scale deployment of many nanotechnology-based GHG capture solutions could take longer than four years, the discussion “will focus on nearer-term opportunities for impact that could pave the way toward larger-scale...

On October 6, 2023, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) posted a readout of the first-of-its-kind Nanotechnology Infrastructure Leaders Summit, held at the White House’s Eisenhower Executive Office Building on September 11, 2023. According to OSTP, the meeting included the leadership of 35 different user facilities, open research laboratories, and innovation institutes that “share the mission of facilitating access to cutting-edge tools and expertise that are...

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. understands that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) has formed a work group to review data and information related to whether the current 100-nanometer (nm) threshold for determining whether a substance is a nanomaterial should be reviewed. Our May 10, 2022, blog item reported on a May 2022 news item published by EPA, “Advancing EPA’s Understanding of the Next Generation of Pesticides.” According to the item,...

The EU Academy, an online hub owned by the European Union (EU), is offering an online course on how EU legislation addresses nanomaterials. The target audience includes: The learning objectives include:...

On October 2, 2023, the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) announced that its October 10, 2023, symposium entitled “Enabling the Nanotechnology Revolution: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act” has been postponed. NNCO states that it is working with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and its speakers to find a replacement date in late February or early March 2024. NNCO will share updated...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a virtual 2023 NanoDay symposium on October 11, 2023, on the continuous manufacturing of nanomaterials. In the symposium, FDA will provide an overview of Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) experience with approving several solid oral drug products that benefited from the continuous manufacturing technologies. FDA states that it will also provide case studies of intramural and extramural research in the areas of nanomaterials and...

In August 2023, the Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences published a NanoTrust Dossier entitled “Nanomaterials in cosmetics — regulation and safety assessment in the EU.” The dossier states that to ensure “the highest possible level of consumer protection,” the European Union (EU) Cosmetics Regulation was adapted in 2009, with special provisions introduced for nanomaterials. These provisions include requiring the notification of cosmetic products...

On October 10, 2023, the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) will host a symposium entitled “Enabling the Nanotechnology Revolution: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act” at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Experts will address the importance of nanotechnology in microelectronics, optics, advanced polymers, quantum engineering, medicine, education, manufacturing, and more. Discussions...

Maxence Pira, Unsplash By Lynn L. Bergeson & Carla N. Hutton on August 30, 2023 POSTED IN FEDERAL, RESEARCH, UNITED STATES The CHIPS Research and Development Office’s Standards Summit will be held as an in-person and virtual event on September 26 and 27, 2023, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (EDT). Co-hosted by a number of organizations, including the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), the event will bring together CHIPS...

On August 15, 2023, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “Nanocrystals Coating by Friction. A New Approach for Advanced Materials” by Dr. Bentejui Medina-Clavijo, Senior Fellow at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and Professor Andrey Chuvilin, head of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory at nanoGUNE. According to the authors, it has been found that friction “can dramatically change the surface properties of a...

On September 26, 2023, Nano4EARTH will hold a roundtable discussion on batteries and energy storage. The roundtable will aim to identify fundamental knowledge gaps, needs, and opportunities to advance current electrification goals. According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), by convening stakeholders from different sectors, backgrounds, and expertise, the roundtable is intended to identify applicable lessons across the spectrum of technologies and to discuss...

On September 12-13, 2023, the “2023 Workshop on Nanotechnology Infrastructure of the Future” will be held in Washington, D.C., and online. Since the current National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) award cycle ends in 2025, the conference organizers are looking ahead to the future and the next national resource in science and technology infrastructure. Shared facilities, such as those historically supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), provide...

On August 14, 2023, the United Kingdom’s (UK) Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) called for the submission of any scientific information relevant to the safety assessment of nanomaterials used in cosmetics. Article 16 of the UK Cosmetics Regulation requires that cosmetic products containing nanomaterials be notified to the Secretary of State at least six months prior to being placed on the market. These notifications may be completed via the Submit Cosmetic Product Notification...

On August 2, 2023, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced that it published a study that systematically reviews and assesses alternative methods for the testing of the safety of nanomaterials without the use of animals. According to EUON, the main aim of the study was to collect and provide accurate and transparent information on new approach methodologies (NAM) available for the human safety assessment of nanomaterials and to create a comprehensive...

On June 26, 2023, the European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) published the second revision of its Guidance on the Safety Assessment of Nanomaterials in Cosmetics. The Guidance covers the main elements of safety assessment, i.e., general considerations (Section 2), material characterization (Section 3), exposure assessment (Section 4), hazard identification and dose-response characterization (Section 5), and risk assessment (Section 6). SCCS states...

On July 31, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it provided more than $1.3 million in funding to a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to develop nanosensor technology that can detect, monitor, and degrade commonly used pesticides found in water that can harm human health. According to EPA, using funding from the grant, researchers will develop an integrated, portable, sensor-controlled water treatment technology that itself...

On September 20, 2023, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will hold a webinar on Test Guideline No. 126: Determination of the Hydrophobicity Index of Nanomaterials Through an Affinity Measurement. The webinar will present the method to determine the hydrophobicity index (Hy) of nanomaterials, through an affinity measurement, described in the OECD Test Guideline (TG) No. 126. According to OECD, webinar attendees will be able to learn the use and limitation...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced on July 4, 2023, that it published a number of new, updated, and corrected Test Guidelines (TG), including the following for nanomaterials: On July 4, 2023, OECD also released a corrected version of its Report on the WNT Workshop how to prepare the Test Guidelines Programme for emerging technologies. The Working Party of the National Coordinators of the TG Program (WNT) held a workshop in December 2022 on...

Switzerland’s Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) has updated its precautionary matrix for synthetic nanomaterials, which is a method for assessing the nano-specific health and environmental risks of nanoproducts. According to FOPH, the precautionary matrix enables the structured assessment of the “nano-specific need for precautions” when handling synthetic nanomaterials. The precautionary matrix is designed “to help industry and trade comply with their due diligence and their...

The European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) announced the release of its final opinion on the safety of titanium dioxide in toys on June 27, 2023. Following the mandate from the EC, the scientific opinion evaluates whether the uses of pigmentary titanium dioxide in toys and toy materials can be considered to be safe in light of the exposure identified and in light of the classification of titanium dioxide...

According to NNI, the roundtable is a critical part of the Nano4EARTH National Nanotechnology Challenge, which aims to leverage recent investments in understanding and controlling matter at the nanoscale to develop technologies and industries that address climate change. Nano4EARTH focuses on facilitating opportunities for members of the nanotechnology community to convene, collaborate, and share resources. Nano4EARTH also strives to provide mechanisms that support technology development and...

POSTED IN INTERNATIONAL, LEGAL/REGULATORY ISSUES, OECD The Organization for Cooperation and Development (OECD) has published the latest edition of the Developments in Delegations on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials and Advanced Materials — Tour de Table. The Tour de Table compiles information provided by delegations on the occasion of the 22nd meeting of the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) in June 2022. Below are highlights on...

The European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) has posted two Nanopinions:...

The European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) published on May 16, 2023, the 12th revision of The SCCS Notes of Guidance for the Testing of Cosmetic Ingredients and Their Safety Evaluation. The guidance contains information on the different aspects of testing and safety evaluation of cosmetic substances in Europe. The emphasis of the guidance is on cosmetic ingredients, but it notes that “some guidance is also indirectly given for the safety assessment of...

The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) issued a May 17, 2023, news item stating that it believes that the European Commission’s (EC) revised Recommendation on the definition of nanomaterial, published in June 2022, “is too restrictive and could lead to a regression in the protection of public health and the environment.” ANSES “is therefore urging the French authorities to take a more inclusive definition into account and work...

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has extended the comment period for its April 5, 2023, request for information (RFI) seeking public input in updating the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Research Strategy. 88 Fed. Reg. 33174. OSTP is soliciting public input from a wide variety of stakeholders, including individuals, industry, academia, research laboratories, nonprofits, and think tanks. OSTP states that it is...

As reported in our May 10, 2023, blog item, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is holding two public webinars providing an overview of the key activities of U.S. government agencies in tackling the challenge of plastic waste in the environment. According to NNI, the breakdown of bulk plastics to micro- and nanoscale particles in the environment “has further challenged efforts to understand the potential human and environmental impacts of plastics over their full life cycles,”...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold two public webinars providing an overview of the key activities of U.S. government agencies in tackling the challenge of plastic waste in the environment. NNI states that the plastic waste issue includes more than just solid waste accumulation. According to NNI, the breakdown of bulk plastics to micro- and nanoscale particles in the environment “has further challenged efforts to understand the potential human and environmental impacts of...

On May 2, 2023, the European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) announced that it published a guidance document entitled Guidance on the implementation of the Commission Recommendation 2022/C 229/01 on the definition of nanomaterial. As reported in our June 10, 2022, blog item, in June 2022, the EC published a new Recommendation aimed at harmonizing the interpretation of the term “nanomaterial” in regulatory contexts. The updated definition of nanomaterials...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on May 3, 2023, that it has filed a color additive petition (CAP 3C0325), submitted by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), the Center for Food Safety (CFS), the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), and the Environmental Working Group (EWG). 88 Fed. Reg. 27818. The petition proposes that FDA repeal the color additive regulation for titanium dioxide in 21 C.F.R....

The European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) has begun a public consultation on its preliminary opinion on fullerenes, hydroxylated fullerenes, and hydrated forms of hydroxylated fullerenes (nano). The EC asked SCCS if it considers fullerenes, hydroxylated fullerenes, and hydrated forms of hydroxylated fullerenes safe when used in cosmetic products according to the maximum concentrations and specifications as reported via the Cosmetic Product...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has published the latest edition of the Developments in Delegations on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials and Advanced Materials — Tour de Table. The Tour de Table compiles information provided by delegations on the occasion of the 22nd meeting of the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) in June 2022.  The Tour de Table lists U.S. developments on the human health and...

As reported in our March 16, 2023, blog item, on March 14, 2023, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) issued a call for study proposals. EUON is looking for studies on: According to EUON, the scope of the study can be on nanomaterials in general, a specific nanomaterial, or a defined group of nanomaterials. EUON will assess all proposals, and if selected, they will be carried out through EUON’s existing procurement channels. EUON will post...

In France, under Decree No. 2012-232, companies that manufacture, import, and/or distribute a “substance with nanoparticle status” in an amount of at least 100 grams per year must submit an annual report with substance identity, quantity, and use information. According to the R-Nano website, managed by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), the declaration form has evolved since 2022 to require the completion of certain fields in accordance...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on April 11, 2023, that its Agricultural Research Service (ARS) recently developed sustainable, machine-washable antimicrobial wipes that can be used at least 30 times for cleaning hard and nonporous surfaces. According to USDA, ARS researchers developed the antimicrobial wipes “by using raw cotton fiber that naturally produced silver nanoparticles inside the fiber in the presence of a silver precursor.” USDA states that the...

On April 6, 2023, NanoHarmony announced publication of a paper in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology entitled “Towards harmonisation of testing of nanomaterials for EU regulatory requirements on chemical safety — A proposal for further actions.” The paper provides an overview of the information requirements across different European Union (EU) regulatory areas. For each information requirement, experts identified potential needs for further action to accommodate...

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) published a request for information (RFI) on April 5, 2023, seeking public input in updating the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Research Strategy. 88 Fed. Reg. 20194. OSTP is soliciting public input from a wide variety of stakeholders, including individuals, industry, academia, research laboratories, nonprofits, and think tanks. OSTP states that it is interested in public input...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold a public meeting May 31-June 1, 2023, to discuss the revision of the 2011 National Nanotechnology Initiative Environmental, Health, and Safety Research Strategy (EHS Research Strategy). NNI encourages individuals, non-governmental organizations (NGO), academic and research institutions, and the private sector interested in the responsible development of nanotechnology to attend and contribute to creating an updated EHS Research Strategy....