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According to the Summer 2020 edition of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) Quarterly Newsletter, the 2020-2021 National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) nanomaterial environmental, health, and safety (nanoEHS) webinars will begin in November 2020.  According to the Newsletter, the Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications (NEHI) Working Group is planning nanoEHS webinars to present progress in the following areas:  nanomaterial...

By Lynn L. Bergeson  On August 17, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is accepting nominations for the 2021 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. EPA intends these awards to recognize innovation by American businesses and researchers that redesign chemical products and processes to reduce or eliminate the use and manufacture of hazardous substances. The 2021 Green Chemistry Challenge Awards nomination package is now available, and nominations are due...

The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) and European Commission (EC) have organized the ninth annual meeting of the environmental, health, and safety effects of nanomaterials (nanoEHS) Communities of Research (COR) as a virtual workshop on September 16-17, 2020.  According to NNI, as the nanoEHS research ecosystem continues to evolve, the workshop will identify future needs and opportunities.  Conversations will further address how the lessons learned from...

The European Union (EU)-funded projects NanoHarmony and NANOMET-Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have jointly organized a September 16, 2020, webinar on “The Pathway to Test Guidelines:  from science to standards for nanomaterials.”  Participants will learn how OECD develops Test Guidelines, using case studies from the Test Guidelines that are supported through the projects for expansion into nanomaterials.  The webinar will explain how novel...

The NanoExplore project, which is supported by the European Union’s (EU) LIFE program, aims at an integrated approach for exposure and health effects monitoring of engineered and incidental nanomaterials in occupational settings.  The project is currently in its pilot phase.  According to NanoExplore, the pilot study will take place following a two-step procedure over two field campaigns separated by a six- or nine-month interval.  Each field campaign will last for four...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published two guidance documents in its series on testing and assessment:...

The July 2020 issue of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Environmental Factor includes an item on a new database that facilitates nanomaterial research.  According to the article, NIEHS grantees constructed PubVINAS, “a large database of structure, chemical property, and activity information on 705 nanomaterials, covering 11 material types.”  The article states that the extensive data on each material “allows scientists...

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published two nanotechnology standards:...

In July 2020, the German Environment Agency (UBA) published a report entitled Advanced materials:  Overview of the field and screening criteria for relevance assessment.  The report describes activities within the project “Advanced materials — Thematic conferences:  Assessment of needs to act on chemical safety” to provide discussion input on approaches to describe, cluster, and prioritize advanced materials.  The aim of the report is to identify relevant advanced...

On June 25, 2020, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a Nanotechnology Research Center (NTRC) Program Performance One-Pager (PPOP).  NTRC conducts research to understand the potential effects on human health of exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENM) and develops methods to control or eliminate exposures.  According to the PPOP, NTRC’s accomplishments include conducting a survey to gather information about companies’ safety and...