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In July 2017, the European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) published a report entitled Evaluation of the availability and applicability of computational approaches in the safety assessment of nanomaterials:  Final report of the Nanocomput project.  The main aims of the Nanocomput Project were to review and assess the current status of computational methods that are potentially useful for predicting the properties of engineered nanomaterials to provide advice on the use of...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold a webinar on July 27, 2017, entitled “The National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) Nodes and Environmental Research: Examples from the Field.”  The National Science Foundation (NSF) supports NNCI, which includes 16 user facility sites, their affiliated partners, and a coordinating office.  NNCI sites provide researchers, academics, small and large businesses, and government scientists with access to...

The Journal of Nanobiotechnology published a special issue on the outcome of Switzerland’s five-year National Research Program on the “Opportunities and Risks of Nanomaterials” (NRP 64).  The editorial states that the Program’s primary goal was to investigate potential applications of existing nanomaterials in healthcare, the consumer industry, and in the environment, and to identify, characterize, and minimize the possible risks associated with their...

The Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology (CEINT) seeks comments on the NANoREG-proposed ISA-TAB-nano templates.  According to CEINT, the ISA-TAB-nano file sharing format, developed under the National Cancer Informatics Program Nanotechnology Working Group (NCIP NanoWG), is an accepted ASTM standard (ASTM International E2909-13).  In 2016, the European Union NANoREG project adopted and adapted the ISA-TAB-nano format to organize consistently the results...

On June 14, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Federal Register notice announcing the availability of a final test guideline, Laboratory Product Performance Testing Methods for Bed Bug Pesticide Products; OCSPP Test Guideline 810.3900, part of a series of test guidelines established by the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) for use in testing pesticides and chemical substances.  82 Fed. Reg. 27254.  EPA states that this...

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently published standard ISO/TR 19601:2017, “Nanotechnologies — Aerosol generation for air exposure studies of nano-objects and their aggregates and agglomerates (NOAA).”  ISO states that, to evaluate the inhalation toxicity of NOAA, it is important to consider certain parameters that make the toxicity testing relevant to human exposure.  Three critical aspects to consider when designing and conducting an inhalation...

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Program on Chemical Safety (IPCS) published a draft Environmental Health Criteria (EHC) Document, Principles and Methods to Assess the Risk of Immunotoxicity Associated with Exposure to Nanomaterials.  According to IPCS, the target audience is risk assessors in a regulatory setting, researchers, and industry that needs to provide the data for assessment.  The draft EHC Document states that recent reports have identified...

On June 14, 2017, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced the launch of the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON).  ECHA states that EUON “offers a unique web-based information point with factual and neutral content about nanomaterials on the EU market.”  EUON is targeted at a wide audience, including consumers, workers, regulators, and scientists.  EUON provides information on uses, health and safety issues, research, regulation, and...

Germany’s Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) has published the final report for the project “Methodology for the Identification of Granular Biopersistent Particles (GBP) at Workplaces.”  The final report states that the category includes respirable granular biopersistent particles without known significant specific toxicity.  This category comprises various materials such as minerals, metals, metal oxides, or polymers that show a negligible...

The American Chemical Society (ACS) announced on May 3, 2017, publication of an article entitled “Inhaled Nanoparticles Accumulate at Sites of Vascular Disease” in ACS Nano.  According to ACS, scientists have found evidence in human and animal studies that inhaled nanoparticles can travel from the lungs into the bloodstream, potentially explaining the link between air pollution and cardiovascular disease.  ACS states in its press release that in the study, 14 healthy...

The May 1, 2017, issue of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) TechDirect includes an item on the availability of the Taking Nanotechnological Remediation Processes from Lab Scale to End User Applications for the Restoration of a Clean Environment (NanoRem) Toolbox.  NanoRem is a research project funded through the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Program for Research and Technological Development.  EPA describes the NanoRem Toolbox as the...

On April 12, 2017, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC) held its 68th meeting.  The BSC’s primary activity is to provide advice on NIOSH’s occupational safety and health research and prevention programs.  The BSC also advises on standards of scientific excellence, current needs in the field of occupational safety and health, and the applicability and dissemination of research findings.  Dr. Jenny Roberts,...

NanoMONITOR, a project partly funded by the European Commission Life+ with grant agreement LIFE14 ENV/ES/000662, is intended to develop a real-time information and monitoring system to support the risk assessment of nanomaterials under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.  The overall objective of the NanoMONITOR project is to improve the use of environmental monitoring data to support the implementation of REACH and to promote the...

On June 2, 2017, the National Research Program “Opportunities and Risks of Nanomaterials” (NRP 64) will hold a closure event, parallel to the Swiss Nano Convention, which will be held June 1-2, 2017.  NRP 64 began its research work in December 2010 and has studied the development, use, behavior, and degradation of synthetic nanomaterials, as well as their impact on humans and the environment.  During the closure event, NRP 64 will present the most important findings...

On March 7, 2017, the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) published the final report for Project 2013-0059, “The Development and Validation of Methods for Sampling and Characterizing Engineered Nanomaterials in Air and on Workplace Surfaces.”  The report is available in French, but the abstract is available in English.  The main goal was to develop innovative methodological approaches for detailed qualitative and...

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) prepared a March 14, 2017, report entitled Science and Technology Issues in the 115th Congress.  The report outlines science and technology policy issues that may come before the 115th Congress.  The report notes that, given the rapid pace of science and technology advancement and its importance in many diverse public policy issues, issues not discussed in this report may come before Congress.  The selected issues are grouped into nine...

NanoMONITOR’s first stakeholders’ day, April 4, 2017, will include a workshop on “Development of a real-time information and monitoring system to support the risk assessment of nanomaterials under REACH.”  The overall aim of the NanoMONITOR project is to develop a prototype system to generate robust, accessible, comparable, and interoperable environmental and indoor air monitoring data to support the implementation of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction...

On May 8, 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its invitation for public input regarding the “Strategic Roadmap:  New Approaches to Evaluate the Safety of Chemicals and Medical Products” (Roadmap), the development of which was coordinated by the National Toxicology Program’s (NTP) Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM).  ICCVAM states that the vision of the Roadmap is to “establish new approaches for...

On March 9, 2017, the NanoSafety Cluster published its 2017 Research Regulatory Roadmap.  The purpose of the Roadmap is to identify both ongoing and complete activities associated with the development of regulations promoting the safety of nanomaterials.  The Roadmap identifies research areas or priorities that need to be addressed further to facilitate this process.  According to the Roadmap, there remain significant gaps in knowledge and procedures that need to be addressed...

On February 23, 2017, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) issued a press release announcing a new report, commissioned by CIEL, the European Environmental Citizens’ Organization for Standardization (ECOS), and the Oeko-Institute, that “shows that most of the information made available by the Sponsorship Testing Programme of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is of little to no value for the regulatory risk assessment of...