All Knowledge & Insights By Date

In October 2017, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published standard ISO/TR 19057:2017, “Nanotechnologies — Use and application of acellular in vitro tests and methodologies to assess nanomaterial biodurability.”  The standard reviews the use and application of acellular in vitro tests and methodologies implemented in the assessment of the biodurability of nanomaterials and their ligands in simulated biological and environmental media.  It is intended to focus...

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 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...

By Kathleen M. Roberts The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) issued a $3,500,000 funding opportunity for projects that use animal waste to generate electricity while reducing the environmental impacts that animal wastes can have on Maryland’s natural resources.  The Animal Waste to Energy Grant Program (AWE Grant Program) will target on-farm or pilot scale projects with capacities of less than 2 MW and community or regional scale projects with capacities of greater than 2...

By Lauren M. Graham, Ph.D. On October 12, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced two public meetings regarding its Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach Initiative.  The meetings will be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 7, 2017, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (EST) and in San Francisco, California, on November 14, 2017, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (PST).  FDA states the purpose of the public meetings is “to provide the public with...

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...

As reported in our August 30, 2017, blog item, the “Technology Development Pathways:  Case Studies from the [National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)]” workshop will be held November 1, 2017.  According to NNI, the workshop will showcase application areas where nanotechnology has had commercial impact.  Keynote presentations will highlight the pathways companies have taken to get from research to commercialization.   Panel discussions will focus on specific...

On October 24, 2017, the Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA) will hold a webinar on Safe by Design for nanomaterials.  NIA states that the webinar is free and 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.  According to NIA, the webinar will bring together projects active in the creation of Safe by Design across Europe to inform participants of the...

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published standard ISO/TS 80004-13:2017, “Nanotechnologies — Vocabulary — Part 13:  Graphene and related two-dimensional (2D) materials.”  According to ISO, over the last decade, interest has arisen in graphene due to its “many exceptional properties.”  More recently, other materials with a similar structure have also shown promising properties, including monolayer and few-layer versions of hexagonal boron nitride,...

The Netherlands National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) announced on September 6, 2017, that an RIVM researcher, Joris Meesters, modified SimpleBox, a distribution model for chemicals, to create SimpleBox4nano, a model to calculate concentrations of nanoparticles in water, soil, and air.  SimpleBox4nano includes new processes that specifically apply to nanoparticles, such as the clustering of particles.  Meesters tested the model using three metal oxide...

On August 30, 2017, Environmental Science & Technology, an American Chemical Society (ACS) publication, published a study entitled “Characterization and Control of Nanoparticle Emission during 3D Printing.” According to the abstract, the study aimed to evaluate particle emission characteristics and to evaluate several control methods used to reduce particle emissions during three-dimensional (3D) printing. Experiments for particle characterization measured particle number...

The European Commission (EC) Environment Directorate General (DG) published an August 2017 report entitled Assessing the environmental safety of manufactured nanomaterials.  The report “shows that, despite early fears, nano-sized particles are not inherently more toxic than larger particles; however, differences between them may be notable and new insights are still being provided by research.”  The report’s aim is “to present the most promising strategies and most significant...

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published standard ISO/TS 20477:2017, “Nanotechnologies — Standard terms and their definition for cellulose nanomaterial.”  The standard states that in industrial productions, cellulose nanomaterials can be manufactured by conversion of wood pulp through chemical, biological, or mechanical processes.  Due to their renewable nature and unique properties, cellulose nanomaterials have developed into platform materials that have...

The “Technology Development Pathways:  Case Studies from the [National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)]” workshop will be held November 1, 2017.  According to NNI, the workshop will showcase application areas where nanotechnology has had commercial impact.  Keynote presentations will highlight the pathways companies have taken to get from research to commercialization.  Panel discussions will focus on specific steps of the development pathway, such as scale up and...

On August 28, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the first of three feature and functionality updates to the Pesticide Submission Portal (PSP) expected this year.  The portal is a web-based application allowing registrants to submit pesticide application packages to EPA electronically.  The PSP application is accessed through EPA’s Central Data Exchange (CDX) Network which requires user registration.  This new PSP, version 1.4,...

On August 23, 2017, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a Federal Register notice requesting comment on its draft National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) for Manufacturing for public comment.  The NORA Manufacturing Sector Council wrote the Agenda, which “identifies the most important occupational safety and health research needs for the next decade, 2016-2026.”  According to NIOSH, the Agenda provides a vehicle...

On August 1, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of two final test method Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for evaluating the efficacy of antimicrobial pesticides against two biofilm bacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus): EPA Microbiology Laboratory Branch (MLB) SOP MB-19:  Growing a Biofilm using the CDC Biofilm Reactor; and EPA MLB SOP MB-20:  Single Tube Method for...

On July 20, 2017, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced 13 grants worth $4.6 million for research on the next generation of agricultural technologies and systems to meet the growing demand for food, fuel, and fiber.  NIFA states that funded projects support nanotechnology-based solutions that improve food production, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, and food safety.  The announced grants include:...