Nano and Other Emerging Chemical Technologies Blog

The Federal Public Service (FPS) Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, the FPS Employment, Labor and Social Dialogue, and the FPS Economy, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME), Self-Employed and Energy will hold a workshop on “Nano in Belgium” on October 22, 2015.  The workshop will focus on nano research, and the agencies encourage representatives from Belgian research institutes, universities, and industries to participate by either posters or oral presentation.  The main goal...

The European Commission (EC) invites scientists to apply for membership in its non-food scientific committees, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) and Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER).  SCCS and SCHEER provide the EC with “high quality and independent risk assessment and scientific advice in the areas of public health, consumer safety and environmental risks.”  SCCS provides opinions on questions concerning health and safety risks...

This week, Belgium’s Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment created an online portal for companies to register nanomaterials they put on the market.  Nanosubstances must be registered before January 1, 2016.  Mixtures containing such substances must be registered before January 1, 2017.  Belgium has posted several documents to help companies determine whether they must register: Who has to register?  The answer is given in a...

On August 19, 2015, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced appeals of its March 11, 2015, decision on substance evaluation for silicon dioxide.  Case A-015-2015 was filed by Evonik Degussa GmbH and 34 others, while Case A-014-2015 was filed by Grace GmbH & Co. KG and Advanced Refining Technologies GmbH.  The appellants in Case A-015-2015 challenge ECHA’s decision to include silicon dioxide on the Community Rolling Action Plan (CoRAP) “due to...

The United Kingdom’s Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prepared a report entitled Summary of work undertaken to assess workplace exposure and control measures during the manufacture and handling of engineered nanomaterials.  The report notes that HSE and HSL attempted to identify and engage with companies that manufactured or used nanomaterials, but only four volunteered to take part in this project.  The report cautions that the...

On August 7, 2019, EPA took long awaited action concerning the inclusion of Prop 65 warning statements for glyphosate on EPA registered pesticide labels, which will likely impact the broader ongoing debate over EPA approval of Prop 65 warnings on pesticide labels.  EPA’s August 7, 2019, letter to glyphosate registrants states that EPA “will no longer approve labeling that includes the Proposition 65 warning statement for glyphosate-containing products.”  EPA stated...

On August 4, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of its Final 2014 Effluent Guidelines Program Plan.  The Final Program Plan includes the following findings from EPA’s review of engineered nanomaterials in industrial wastewater: Some manufacturing and processing methods likely generate wastewater, but the quantity generated and waste management practices are not documented; Toxicity hazards from engineered nanomaterials have been...

On August 4, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the availability of a final guidance document entitled “Guidance for Industry:  Use of Nanomaterials in Food for Animals.”  The Guidance is intended to assist industry and other stakeholders in identifying potential issues related to safety or regulatory status of food for animals containing nanomaterials or otherwise involving the application of nanotechnology.  FDA states that the Guidance is...

On July 27, 2015, two petitions for review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) second conditional registration of a nanosilver pesticide product were filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) filed a petition (Case Number 15-72308), as well as the Center for Food Safety (CFS) and International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) (Case Number 15-72312). Both suits ask the court to set aside EPA’s final order...

On July 16, 2015, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced the following appeals in which the keywords include nanoforms: J.M. Huber Finland Oy, Case A-011-2015; RHODIA OPERATIONS SAS, Case A-010-2015; IQESIL SA, Case A-009-2015; and Evonik Degussa GmbH, Case A-008-2015. The cases all concern silicic acid, aluminum sodium salt. The contested decisions were adopted December 17, 2014, following a compliance check under the dossier evaluation procedure of the submitted registration. In each...

The July 25, 2015, Canada Gazette includes a notice announcing that the Minister of the Environment requires, for the purpose of assessing whether the substances described in the notice are toxic or are capable of becoming toxic, or for the purpose of assessing whether to control, or the manner in which to control the listed substances, any person described in the notice who possesses or who may reasonably be expected to have access to the information required to provide that...

The European Commission (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) announced on July 10, 2015, the publication of its third report in its review of the EC recommendation on the definition of a nanomaterial.  The report is the last in a series of three, and provides scientific support to the EC in its review of the definition used to identify materials for which special provisions might apply (e.g., for ingredient labeling or safety assessment).  According to JRC, as the definition...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has issued the following publications in its Series on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials:  No. 55 — Harmonized Tiered Approach to Measure and Assess the Potential Exposure to Airborne Emissions of Engineered Nano-Objects and their Agglomerates and Aggregates at Workplaces:  The primary goal of this publication is to describe a reliable formal methodology for conducting consistent exposure related...

On July 7, 2015, the American Chemical Society (ACS) will hold a webinar to address the White House’s recently announced Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand Challenges for the Next Decade.  The webinar will feature ACS Nano Editor-in-Chief Paul Weiss and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Lloyd Whitman.  The webinar is free, and registration is open to the general public.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has extended the comment period on its April 6, 2015, proposed rule concerning reporting and recordkeeping requirements for certain chemical substances when they are manufactured or processed at the nanoscale.  Comments will now be due August 5, 2015.  EPA will publish a Federal Register notice announcing the extension during the week of June 29, 2015.  EPA proposes to require persons that manufacture or process these chemical substances to...

On May 26, 2015, Sustainable Nanotechnologies (SUN) began a survey on risk management of nanotechnology. A key objective of SUN is to build the SUN Decision Support System to facilitate safe and sustainable nanomanufacturing and risk management. It will integrate tools for ecological and human health risk assessment, lifecycle assessment, economic assessment, and social impact assessment within a sustainability assessment framework.  SUN seeks responses from personnel of companies involved in...

Taking Nanotechnological Remediation Processes from Lab Scale to End User Applications for the Restoration of a Clean Environment (NanoRem) is a research project funded through the European Commission (EC) FP7. On May 6, 2015, NanoRem issued a press release announcing that no significant toxicological effects were found on soil or water organisms when ecotoxicological tests were undertaken for a range of nanoparticles that could be used for remediation projects: NanoFer 25S, made from...

On June 17, 2015, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) published a request for information (RFI) seeking suggestions for “Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand Challenges for the Next Decade.” The Federal Register notice states: “A Nanotechnology-Inspired Grand Challenge should be an ambitious but achievable goal that harnesses nanoscience, nanotechnology, and innovation to solve important national or global problems and has the potential to capture the public’s...

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) issued a June 9, 2015, press release reminding registrants to consider the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) dissemination of hazard information on the following nanomaterials, and to update their dossiers accordingly: Cerium oxide; Dendrimers; Fullerenes (C60); Gold nanoparticles; Multi-walled carbon nanotubes; Nanoclays; Silicon dioxide; Silver nanoparticles; Single-walled carbon nanotubes; Titanium dioxide...

On June 10, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued proposed significant new use rules (SNUR) for 30 chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN), including functionalized carbon nanotubes (generic) (PMN Number P-13-793). On October 27, 2014, EPA promulgated a SNUR for this PMN substance through a direct final rule. EPA withdrew the SNUR on December 23, 2014, after receiving notice of intent to submit adverse comments. According to the June 10,...