The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has announced a call for abstract submissions for oral presentations, posters, and poster pitches at its colloquium on “A coordinated approach to assess the human health risks of micro- and nanoplastics in food,” which will be held in Lisbon on June 8-9, 2020. EFSA states that “[m]icroplastics are small particles of plastic less than 5mm in size; nanoplastics are even smaller, ranging from 1 to 100 nanometres (N.B. 1 nanometre...
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a Federal Register notice on December 17, 2019, requesting information on toxicological and physicochemical data of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) to evaluate in developing categorical occupational exposure limits (OEL). 84 Fed. Reg. 68935. As reported in our December 16, 2019, blog item, NIOSH intends to develop categorical OELs based on the available scientific evidence regarding the...
December 16, 2019
NIOSH Will Request Information on Engineered Nanomaterials to Evaluate in Developing OELs
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is scheduled to publish a Federal Register notice on December 17, 2019, requesting information on toxicological and physicochemical data of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) to evaluate in developing categorical occupational exposure limits (OEL). According to the notice, NIOSH intends to develop categorical OELs based on the available scientific evidence regarding the hazard or safety of ENMs. NIOSH seeks...
The European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) recently published a JRC Science for Policy Report entitled Identification of nanomaterials through measurements that is intended to support the implementation of the EC’s Recommendation on the definition of nanomaterials (2011/696/EU). It is a follow-up of a previous JRC Science for Policy Report on concepts and terms used in the definition. The present report addresses identification of nanomaterials...
December 12, 2019
EUON Publishes Nanopinion on Safe by Design Approach to Nanomaterials
On December 11, 2019, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “The innovator, the regulator and the citizen — building public trust through transparent, empowered and safe innovation.” Carlos Eduardo Lima da Cunha, the European Commission (EC), explains how the EU is supporting safe by design approaches to new technologies such as nanomaterials to deliver safer products to the market. Lima da Cunha notes that the EU has...
December 11, 2019
ISO Standard Specifies Method for Testing Photocatalytic Activity of Nanoparticles for NADH Oxidation
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published standard ISO 20814:2019, “Nanotechnologies — Testing the photocatalytic activity of nanoparticles for NADH oxidation.” The standard specifies a method for the measurement of the photocatalytic activity (PCA) of nanoparticles (NP), suspended in an aqueous environment in physiologically relevant conditions, by measuring the ultraviolet (UV)-induced nicotine adenine dinucleotide hydrate (NADH) oxidation. ...
December 9, 2019
9th Nano Conference Will Be Held in October 2020
The Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO) and Nanotechnology, Occupational and Environmental Health (NanOEH) committees will host the 9th Nano Conference October 4-6, 2020. The Conference will address: The Conference will be held in Denver, Colorado....
December 7, 2019
NTP Publishes Technical Report on Toxicity Studies of 1020 Long Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes
On December 5, 2019, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) announced that the NTP Technical Report on the Toxicity Studies of 1020 Long Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Administered by Inhalation to Sprague Dawley (Hsd:Sprague Dawley® SD®) Rats and B6C3F1/N Mice is now available. In 2003, the Rice University Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology nominated nanoscale materials as a class of substances for toxicological evaluation. The recommended...
December 5, 2019
Researchers Find Nanotoxicity Studies May Be Affected by Nanoparticles Staying Behind in Syringes
On November 25, 2019, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced the publication of a study published in Frontiers in Pharmacology entitled “Unpredictable Nanoparticle Retention in Commonly Used Plastic Syringes Introduces Dosage Uncertainties That May Compromise the Accuracy of Nanomedicine and Nanotoxicology Studies.” The researchers in the study radiolabeled a variety of different nanoparticles, loaded suspensions of particles into different plastic...
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced on December 3, 2019, that it has developed a new Appendix for nanoforms applicable to the Guidance on Registration and Substance Identification. According to ECHA, it aligns ECHA’s guidance with the amended annexes of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation that will apply to nanomaterials and enter into force on January 1, 2020. The new guidance document explains the term nanoform,...