Nano and Other Emerging Chemical Technologies Blog

Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®) and its consulting affiliate The Acta Group (Acta®) published on January 9, 2020, our “Forecast for U.S. Federal and International Chemical Regulatory Policy 2020.”  In this richly detailed and comprehensive document, the legal, scientific, and regulatory professionals of B&C and Acta distill key trends in U.S. and global chemical law and policy, and provide our best informed judgment as to the shape of key developments we are likely to see...

On January 3, 2020, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) announced that it is expanding its podcast offerings in 2020.  The three podcast series will consist of interviews between Dr. Lisa Friedersdorf, Director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), and various experts, and will explore nanotechnology from three different perspectives: Beginning January 6, 2020, NNI will release a new episode every Monday....

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...

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...

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...

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. ...

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....

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...