All Knowledge & Insights By Date

On April 15, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced final product performance data requirements for products claiming efficacy against certain pests. 87 Fed. Reg. 22464. This action officially incorporates EPA’s already existing product performance standards requirements for certain invertebrate pests into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).  EPA states this action also increases the efficiency of its approval process and will save...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on April 18, 2022, that it will hold a webinar on May 11, 2022, entitled “Data-Driven Solutions to Reducing Animal Use in Ecotoxicity.” Speakers will include: Carlie LaLone, Ph.D., EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD), on “The Sequence Alignment to Predict Across Species Susceptibility (SeqAPASS) Tool: Extrapolating Knowledge Computationally.” EPA states that regulatory decision-making for chemical safety relies upon...

On March 31, 2022, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) published a supplement to President Biden’s 2022 budget request. The supplement serves as NNI’s annual report. According to the supplement, NNI has made significant progress toward the five goals of NNI identified in the 2021 NNI Strategic Plan. Furthermore, the nanotechnology research community continues to leverage former NNI investments that established a strong foundation of understanding at the nanoscale to combat...

The European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) has launched two calls for tenders to conduct studies on nanomaterials. The first call for tender is on valid in silico modeling tools and read-across approaches, including creating case studies on read-across for specific types of nanomaterials. According to the call for tender, the study proposes to examine the use of these tools for nanomaterials and to draw potential conclusions (for both regulators and industry/small-...

On March 1, 2022, NanoHarmony held the first in a series of webinars covering the different phases that an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) test guideline (TG) progresses through during its journey from a science-based initial idea through to use by industry to fulfill regulatory obligations. A recording of the March 1, 2022, webinar on the use of TGs in industry is now available. A short survey is available to collect stakeholder viewpoints on the...

On February 24, 2022, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “Are nanoplastics hazardous? The way forward to overcome the uncertainties of risk assessment” by Dr. Anita Jemec Kokalj and Dr. Dana Kühnel about defining the criteria to evaluate which properties of nanoplastics should be reported in future studies to decrease uncertainties in their risk assessment. The authors state that nanoplastics “are complex environmental pollutants...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Carla N. Hutton The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold a virtual public meeting April 20-21, 2022, to seek individual input on the proposed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) New Chemicals Collaborative Research Program. 87 Fed. Reg. 10784. In addition, EPA announced the availability of and is soliciting public comment on the draft document entitled “Modernizing the Process and Bringing Innovative Science to Evaluate New Chemicals Under TSCA.” EPA...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold a webinar on “What We Know about NanoEHS: Building International Bridges” on March 1, 2022. NNI states that it has supported the emergence of an international community of collaborative researchers on the environmental, health, and safety aspects of nanomaterials (nanoEHS). According to NNI, “[b]y advancing tools, methods, and standards for robust health and safety evaluation, these cooperative efforts have furthered the safe and...

By Lynn L. Bergeson  On January 10, 2022, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced that a team of its researchers has developed a promising approach to control methane emissions and remove methane from the air using zeolite clay. Zeolite clay is inexpensive and abundant. The MIT team found that, when treated with copper, the material is very effective at absorbing methane from the air even at low concentrations. According to researcher and Associate Professor of Civil...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold a webinar on “What We Know about NanoEHS: Nanoinformatics and Modeling” on January 31, 2022. NNI states that nanoinformatics and modeling support and crosscut all areas of assessments of the environmental, health, and safety aspects of nanomaterials (nanoEHS). The expert panel will explore how progress in nanoinformatics and modeling has impacted the safe and responsible development of nanotechnology. The panel will be moderated by...

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently published ISO/TS 21357:2022, “Nanotechnologies — Evaluation of the mean size of nano-objects in liquid dispersions by static multiple light scattering (SMLS).” ISO states that the standard provides guidance and requirements for the determination of the mean (spherical) equivalent diameter of nano-objects (i.e., particles, droplets, or bubbles) dispersed in liquids using the SMLS technique. According to ISO, the technique is...

On December 22, 2021, the Swedish National Platform for Nanosafety (SweNanoSafe) announced the availability of the executive summary for a report entitled “Toward Safe and Sustainable Nanotechnology Innovation.” SweNanoSafe and researchers from the Action Research Center for a Resilient Society, Sari Scheinberg and Sverker Alänge, commissioned a study to contribute to knowledge and understanding, to create new ways of meeting, and to gather information on how...

In December 2021, the German Environment Agency (UBA) published a report entitled Development of a specific OECD Test Guideline on Particle Size and Particle Size Distribution of Nanomaterials. The UBA commissioned the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) (project coordinator) and the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) to develop an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (⁠OECD)⁠ Test Guideline for the determination of particle...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. On November 23, 2021, ACS announced that it is accepting applications for its Heh-Won Chang, Ph.D. Fellowship in Green Chemistry. This opportunity provides $5,000 in financial support to full-time graduate students conducting research in green chemistry. This one-time payment may be used for any purpose, including conference travel, professional development, and living expenses while the recipient is in graduate school. This...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently published the following reports: Evaluation of Tools and Models Used for Assessing Environmental Exposure to Manufactured Nanomaterials; Functional Assessment and Statistical Analysis of Nano-Specific Environmental Exposure Tools and Models: The objective of the project was to compile available tools and models for the assessment of environmental exposure to manufactured nanomaterials and to conduct an analysis of their...

On November 15, 2021, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) announced the release of a report that it commissioned entitled “Study on the Product Lifecycles, Waste Recycling and the Circular Economy for Nanomaterials.” The study updates and expands on the 2016 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) document entitled “Nanomaterials in Waste Streams — Current Knowledge on Risks and Impacts.” The report covers waste streams containing...

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) held a webinar on November 16, 2021, entitled “What We Know about NanoEHS: Risk Assessment and Risk Management.” The webinar’s speakers explored the impact of advances in risk assessment and risk management on the safe and responsible development of nanotechnology. The panel included: Rick Canady, Director and Founder, NeutralScience L3C; Igor Linkov, Research Physical Scientist, Environmental Laboratory, U.S. Army Engineer Research and...

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently published ISO/TS 23650:2021, “Nanotechnologies — Evaluation of the antimicrobial performance of textiles containing manufactured nanomaterials.” ISO states that the standard specifies the antimicrobial performance assessment method for textiles containing manufactured (metals/metal oxides) nanomaterials. The textiles in the standard include fabric, yarn, and fiber in which manufactured nanomaterials are used during the...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. On October 28, 2021, the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) announced that several of its scientists discovered in a study that bioplastics can be chemically recycled into nitrogen-rich fertilizers in an environmentally friendly manner. Assistant Professor Daisuke Aoki and Professor Hideyuki Otsuka led the study hoping to address plastic pollution, petrochemical resource depletion, and world hunger. In their novel method,...

On October 15, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it has revised its guidance for evaluating the efficacy of antimicrobial pesticides against Candida auris (C. auris). EPA states that pesticide manufacturers seeking to register their products with a C. auris claim should use this updated guidance to test the effectiveness of the products against a drug-resistant strain of C. auris. EPA states that C. auris is an...