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April 12, 2019

Report Available from January 2019 Mexico-EU Workshop on Nanosafety

Lynn L. BergesonCarla N. Hutton

On January 22-24, 2019, a Mexico-European Union (EU) workshop on nanosafety was held in Mexico.  The aim of the workshop was to establish a stronger connection between the Mexican and European research communities within the context of bringing scientific information to the risk assessment, risk management, and policy levels.  According to the workshop report, Mexico is eligible to participate in the EU’s Horizon 2020 and Ninth EU Framework Programs, and the January workshop was intended to inform Mexico and the EU with what has been achieved already and where each can benefit from the other’s knowledge and infrastructure.  The workshop report states that the following key collaborations were identified:

  1. To invite formally some of the members of EU Nanosafety Cluster (NSC) to be members of the International Advising Committee of the Sistema Nacional para la Evaluación Toxicológica de Nanomateriales (SINANOTOX);
  2. To engage SINANOTOX in NSC activities such as training schools, workshops, and annual scientific meetings;
  3. For SINANOTOX members to become members of working groups and task forces;
  4. To promote the direct contact between the SINANOTOX research groups and their European counterparts and vice versa, e.g., by involving Mexican partners in EU project proposals as Mexico is eligible for obtaining funding from the EU;
  5. To promote the student and faculty exchanges using the binational Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) funds;
  6. To promote in CONACyT the opening of a special call for nanosafety;
  7. To invite specific groups from NSC to review and enrich the toxicological assays proposed by SINANOTOX members;
  8. To connect SINANOTOX with the Malta Initiative;
  9. To share protocols and standard operating procedures;
  10. To organize a small workshop or course on data handling and analysis; and
  11. To organize a meeting to evaluate the one‐year activities and results from NSC‐SINANOTOX joint activities in January‐February 2020.