Nano and Other Emerging Chemical Technologies Blog

The Society for the Study of New and Emerging Technologies (S.NET), an international association promoting intellectual exchange and critical inquiry about the advancement of new and emerging technologies in society, has launched a new website and twitter account. S.NET represents diverse communities, disciplines, viewpoints, and methodologies in the social sciences and humanities. It also welcomes contributions from scientists and engineers that advance the critical reflection of nanoscience...

The Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) posted on December 17, 2015, a report entitled Nanotechnologies in medical devices.  RIVM conducted an investigation to provide insights into and an overview of the field of medical devices using nanotechnologies for products already on the market and for those expected within five years.  According to the report, knowledge is evolving on the safety evaluation of nanomaterials in general, and thus also when used...

On December 17, 2015, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) posted a request for a scientific opinion on three coatings for titanium dioxide (nano) as an ultraviolet (UV)-filter in dermally applied cosmetic products.  According to the request, the European Commission (EC) received data from industry to assess the safety of the following coatings for titanium dioxide (nano form) used as a UV-filter in dermally applied cosmetic products:  cetyl phosphate; manganese dioxide; and...

On December 22, 2015, the U.S. Commerce Department National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced that it issued a notice of intent to fund up to two institutes as part of the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI).  For the first institutes, the Commerce Department will provide up to $70 million per institute over five to seven years.  Commerce funding must be matched by private and other non-federal sources.  The Commerce Department expects the institutes to...

The European Commission (EC) published the final novel foods regulation in the December 11, 2015, issue of the Official Journal of the European Union. Under the regulation, food consisting of engineered nanomaterials should be considered a novel food. Engineered nanomaterial means “any intentionally produced material that has one or more dimensions of the order of 100 nm or less or that is composed of discrete functional parts, either internally or at the surface, many of which have one or...

This month the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Danish EPA) published the following publications, in English, concerning nanomaterials: Better control of nanomaterials — summary of the 4-year Danish initiative on nanomaterials: The “Better control of nanomaterials” initiative intended to create an overview of the possible risks of using nanomaterials, focusing on consumers and the environment. The report states: “Generally, there is still a need for more information on where...

On December 11, 2015, the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST), a leading occupational health and safety research center in Canada, published the second edition of its Best Practices Guidance for Nanomaterial Risk Management in the Workplace.  IRSST intends the Guidance to support the safe development of nanotechnologies in Québec by bringing together current scientific knowledge on hazard identification, strategies for determining nanomaterial...

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) posted a RAND Corporation (RAND) report entitled Nanomaterial Safety in the Workplace:  Pilot Project for Assessing the Impact of the NIOSH Nanotechnology Research Center.  In August 2014, NIOSH asked RAND to help develop and apply a method for assessing its Nanotechnology Research Center’s (NTRC) contribution to improving the safety and health of workers who could be affected by the production, use, reuse, or...

Registration is open for the National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) December 11, 2015, webinar entitled “All Hands on Deck for Improving Data Quality.”  The one-hour webinar will include a presentation from Dr. Paul Weiss, Distinguished Professor at UCLA and Editor-in-Chief of ACS Nano, on nanotechnology data reproducibility challenges and needs.  Dr. Ewan Birney, Director of European Bioiformatics Institute, will present a case study on the formation of the...

On December 1, 2015, the Swedish Chemicals Agency (KEMI) announced that it proposed to the government that those who report chemical products to the products register would, in addition to the information that is currently reported, also provide additional information regarding any nanomaterials contained in the product.  According to the English summary in KEMI’s report, the proposal covers nanomaterials that have been intentionally added to the product, regardless of concentration. ...