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The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold a webinar on June 2, 2021, on nanosensors for food and agriculture. NNI states that nanotechnology-enabled sensors (nanosensors) “are promising tools to advance precision agriculture and support a safe and robust food supply chain, from farm to fork.” Panelists will discuss how the development and deployment of nanosensors could transform agriculture and food safety. They will highlight the state of the science,...

On April 29, 2021, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “Biotransformation of nanomaterials while transferring in the food chain” by Dr. Fazel A. Monikh.  As the application of nanomaterials increases, more of these materials are released in the environment.  Monikh states that some nanomaterials that are persistent in the environment raise concerns as they can enter organisms’ bodies, accumulate in their organs, and...

Registration is open for the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) April 27, 2021, webinar on “What We Know about NanoEHS:  Environment.”  The webinar will feature experts from diverse disciplines to share their perspectives on key findings on the effects of engineered nanomaterials in the environment.  Elijah Petersen, Ph.D., Research Scientist, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will moderate the panel, which will include:...

NanoHarmony held a webinar on March 17, 2021, on “Identification and solving barriers for translating science to regulation and standards.”  According to NanoHarmony, the webinar focused on helping to identify the obstacles faced by stakeholders in developing new test methods and having them introduced as new test guidelines and guidance documents.  A recording of the webinar is now available online, as well as the following slides: Registration is now available for...

On March 17, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the issuance of the final guidance document entitled “Guidance for Waiving Acute Dermal Toxicity Tests for Pesticide Technical Chemicals & Supporting Retrospective Analysis” (EPA 705-G-2020-3722; Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OPP-2016-0093) that expands the potential for data waivers for acute dermal studies to single technical active ingredients (AI) used to formulate end-use products. This new guidance...

The European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced on March 19, 2021, that it is looking for topic suggestions that could be addressed in its upcoming studies.  According to EUON, up to three studies are conducted annually to address knowledge gaps on nanomaterials that are of interest to the general public and the research community.  EUON states that it seeks studies that address: The scope of the study can be on nanomaterials in general, a specific...

By Lynn L. Bergeson  On February 23, 2021, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) announced that in association with other relevant Directorates-General (DG) of the European Commission (EC), DG Environment has opened a call for applications to select members for an expert group, the High-Level Roundtable on Implementation of the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. According to EU-OSHA, the expert group’s mission “is to set the Chemicals Strategy for...

Registration is open for the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative’s (NNI) March 23, 2021, webinar on “What We Know About NanoEHS:  Human Exposure.”  The webinar will feature experts from diverse disciplines to share their perspectives on key findings in quantifying and assessing the effects of human exposure to nanomaterials.  Keana Scott, Ph.D., Physical Scientist, Materials Measurement Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology...

The March 2021 issue of Environmental Factor, a monthly newsletter published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), includes an item entitled “New graphene nanochannel filters hold promise for contaminant clean-up.”  According to the item, an NIEHS-funded study found a new strategy to design nanomaterials to filter contaminants better from water.  To improve the usefulness of graphene oxide nanosheets for filtering contaminants from liquid, the...

In December 2020, the European Commission (EC) Directorate-General (DG) for Research and Innovation opened a call for tenders for “Providing market data about nanotechnology to enhance transparency.”  The description states that the study on nanotechnology/nanomaterials is aimed to provide a new set of data from the period of 2017 to 2020 into the NanoData database, available on the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) website.  This study will follow up on...