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The European Parliament (EP) announced on October 8, 2020, that it objected to a European Commission (EC) proposal to amend the specification for the use of titanium dioxide (E171) in food products.  The EP rejected the EC’s proposal to reduce the amount of titanium dioxide (E171), instead calling on the EC “to apply the precautionary principle and to remove E171 from the EU list of permitted food additives that are currently used mainly to colour confectionery, bakery and pastry products...

The European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) began a public consultation on October 5, 2020, on a preliminary opinion entitled Scientific Advice on the Safety of Nanomaterials in Cosmetics.  The EC requested that SCCS determine the nanomaterials, as published in the 2019 catalogue of nanomaterials, for which specific concerns can be identified and justified to establish a priority list of nanomaterials for risk assessment (Article 16(4)...

On September 17, 2020, the European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines (EAASM) announced the availability of a report entitled Patient Safety and Nanomedicines:  The need for a centralised regulatory procedure.  According to EAASM, “[n]anomedicines and their follow-on products, also referred to as nanosimilars, are complex molecules and so regulatory oversight must be scientifically fit for purpose.”  The report makes three key recommendations intended to...

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 Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) and the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (RTD) will jointly organize a virtual “Workshop on Safe and Sustainable Smart Nanomaterials” on September 9-10, 2020.  The workshop is focused on smart (responsive, multi-functional) nanomaterials, as such or embedded in products, that are developed for application in industrial sectors such as agriculture, food, packaging, and cosmetics.  The program is...

On June 26, 2020, the European Commission (EC) published a regulation in the Official Journal of the European Union that amends Annex II of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.  Annex II describes the requirements for compiling safety data sheets (SDS).  The EC notes that specific requirements for nanoforms of substances took effect on January 1, 2020, and that information related to those requirements is to be...

By Lynn L. Bergeson and Ligia Duarte Botelho, M.A. On April 10, 2020, the European Commission (EC) announced the launch of its new online service that connects crop and food producers with biorefineries. This European Union (EU) project aims to address food waste by enabling crop producers, food processors, and agricultural cooperatives to sell their waste as feedstock for use by two biorefineries in Spain and Italy. The multi-feedstock biorefineries, designed by Agrimax, convert farming and...

On March 23, 2020, the European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) announced that the fact sheet on the SCCS Guidance on the safety assessment of nanomaterials in cosmetics is now available in French, German, Italian, and Spanish.  The guidance provides recommendations for the safety assessment of nanomaterials intended for use in cosmetics and covers the main elements of risk assessment of nanomaterials in relation to possible use as cosmetic...

The European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) announced on March 3, 2020, that the April 2020 issue of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology includes “The SCCS guidance on the safety assessment of nanomaterials in cosmetics.”  The highlights state that: The guidance provides an overview of the key issues and data requirements relating to the safety assessment of nanomaterials; The guidance facilitates the applicants and the risk assessors in...

On January 28, 2020, the European Union (EU) published The NanoDefine Methods Manual, a collection of three Joint Research Center (JRC) reports developed within the NanoDefine project “Development of an integrated approach based on validated and standardized methods to support the implementation of the EC recommendation for a definition of nanomaterial.”  According to the Manual, the overall goal of the NanoDefine project was to support the implementation of the European Commission...

By Lynn L. Bergeson The European Commission (EC) will host a webinar on biobased products developed from fast pyrolysis oil, where four companies will present their work. A technology that can convert a wide range of biomass into clean and uniform bio-oil that is easy to transport and store, fast pyrolysis has mostly focused, thus far, on the use of pyrolysis oil for energy purposes. According to EC, the Horizon 2020 project called Bio4Products, however, has recently developed a technology to...

The Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) announced on February 6, 2020, that the European Commission (EC) has requested scientific advice on the safety of nanomaterials in cosmetics.  The EC seeks advices on two questions: The EC requests that SCCS determine the nanomaterials, as published in the recent catalogue of nanomaterials of 2019, for which specific concerns can be identified and justified to establish a priority list of nanomaterials for risk assessment (Article...

The European Commission’s (EC) Joint Research Center (JRC) recently published a JRC Science for Policy Report entitled Identification of nanomaterials through measurements that is intended to support the implementation of the EC’s Recommendation on the definition of nanomaterials (2011/696/EU).  It is a follow-up of a previous JRC Science for Policy Report on concepts and terms used in the definition.  The present report addresses identification of nanomaterials...

On December 11, 2019, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “The innovator, the regulator and the citizen — building public trust through transparent, empowered and safe innovation.”  Carlos Eduardo Lima da Cunha, the European Commission (EC), explains how the EU is supporting safe by design approaches to new technologies such as nanomaterials to deliver safer products to the market.  Lima da Cunha notes that the EU has...

The European Commission’s Joint Research Center (JRC) recently published a white paper entitled Anticipation of regulatory needs for nanotechnology-enabled health products.  The white paper notes that at this time, “no specific regulatory framework exists for nanotechnology-enabled health products but the current regulatory practice requires additional guidance in order to fully cover the particularities of such products.”  The white paper identifies the following major...

On November 22, 2019, the European Commission (EC) Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME) requested two scientific opinions from the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS): Request for a scientific opinion on platinum (nano)-colloidal platinum (nano) (Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) No. 7440-06-4, EC No. 231-116-1) and acetyl tetrapeptide-17 colloidal platinum (nano) (CAS and EC Nos. not available); and Request...

The European Commission (EC) announced on November 15, 2019, that it published an updated catalog of nanomaterials used in cosmetic products on the European Union (EU) market.  As reported in our June 19, 2017, blog item, the EC first published a catalog in June 2017.  The catalog compiles information that responsible persons shared with the EC through the cosmetic products notification portal (CPNP) as of December 31, 2018.  The catalog lists 27 nanomaterials used...

On November 4, 2019, the European Commission’s (EC) Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) published an updated Guidance on the Safety Assessment of Nanomaterials in Cosmetics.  The Guidance updates SCCS’s 2012 Guidance (SCCS/1484/12) on the safety assessment of nanomaterials in cosmetic products.  It covers the main elements of safety assessment — general considerations (Section 2), material characterization (Section 3), exposure assessment (Section 4), hazard...

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) issued a press release on October 8, 2019, reminding companies that by January 1, 2020, companies must provide more information on nanomaterials on the European Union (EU) market under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.  The new information requirements concern companies that manufacture or import nanoforms of substances that are subject to registration under REACH.  As...

On November 12, 2019, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) will hold a webinar on the amended information requirements for nanoforms under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation.  As reported in our December 4, 2018, blog item, the European Commission (EC) announced on December 3, 2018, that it adopted amendments to several REACH Annexes to clarify the information requirements for nanomaterials.  The amended...