Nano and Other Emerging Chemical Technologies Blog

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has posted an October 30, 2017, report entitled Strategies, Techniques and Sampling Protocols for Determining the Concentrations of Manufactured Nanomaterials in Air at the Workplace.  The objective of the report is to contribute to existing knowledge regarding methods for measuring characteristics of airborne nanoparticles and controlling occupational exposure to airborne nanoparticles, and to gather data on nanoparticle...

On October 24, 2017, the Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA) held a webinar on Safe by Design for Nanomaterials.  The webinar was open to all actors interested in nanomaterials and their safe management throughout their lifecycle, using the principles of Safe by Design from the earliest development stages.  The webinar included the following presentations: Session 1:  Introduction to Safe by Design EU Research Strategy — Nanotechnologies and Advanced Materials 2018-2020:...

The European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) recently published a policy brief entitled “EU Observatory for Nanomaterials:  a constructive view on future regulation.”  The policy brief provides information about the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON), how it is being developed, its limitations, and “why it is not an ideal option.”  According to the policy brief, the absence of risk information regarding nanomaterials in safety data sheets (SDS) “is one of the main...

As reported in our October 20, 2017, memorandum, “California and New York Require Manufacturers to Disclose Ingredients in Cleaning Products,” on April 25, 2017, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) announced the Household Cleansing Product Information Disclosure Program.  The Program will require manufacturers of household cleansing products sold in New York to disclose the chemical ingredients on their websites.  Under the draft 2017 Household Cleansing Product Information Disclosure...

The Sixth Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO) Conference will be held November 5-7, 2017, in Los Angeles, California.  According to SNO, the Conference sessions represent a hybrid of topics on selected “systems” that contribute to sustainability and more traditional topics.  Sessions will be populated with talks on applications, effects and implications, analytical methods, and lifecycle aspects of nanomaterials within each system.  The aims are to...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published on October 19, 2017, a direct final rule promulgating significant new use rules (SNUR) for 29 chemical substances that were the subject of premanufacture notices (PMN).  The 29 chemical substances are subject to consent orders issued by EPA under Section 5(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act.  The direct final rule includes a SNUR for multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) (generic) (PMN Numbers P-15-487, P-15-488,...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a report entitled Silver Nanoparticles:  Summary of the Dossier.  The Summary states that Korea led the testing of silver nanoparticles under OECD’s Sponsorship Program for the Testing of Manufactured Nanomaterials.  OECD published the dossier on silver nanoparticles in 2016, and the seven-part dossier identifies the U.S. as co-lead.  The Summary includes information on physical and chemical properties; general...

The European Union (EU) NanoSafety Cluster will hold the first in a series of webinars on November 20, 2017.  The series will introduce the EU NanoSafety Cluster’s work and the key outcomes from its projects.  The first webinar will present the EU NanoSafety Cluster, what it does, and provide examples of its work.  Future webinars, which will be held every four months, will cover important project outcomes and their impact on the safe development of nanomaterials to consumers across all...

On October 12, 2017, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced the release of 17 new, updated, corrected, or deleted Test Guidelines.  The Test Guidelines include three specifically developed for nanomaterials.  OECD states that Test Guideline 318:  Dispersion Stability of Nanomaterials in Simulated Environmental Media provides a simple and effective tool that can analyze the dispersion stability of nanomaterials in aqueous media.  It is one of the...

On October 9, 2017, the European Commission (EC) began a public consultation on a draft regulation that would amend Annexes I, III, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation to address nanoforms of substances.  The draft regulation states that: Clarifications to requirements for the registration of substances with nanoforms and related downstream user obligations should be included in Annexes I,...