All Knowledge & Insights By Date

On February 13, 2009, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) announced the availability of “Current Intelligence Bulletin 60: Interim Guidance for the Medical Screening and Hazard Surveillance for Workers Potentially Exposed to Engineered Nanoparticles.” NIOSH offers the following recommendations for workplaces where workers may be exposed to engineered nanoparticles in the course of their work: According to NIOSH, its recommendations respond to ongoing...

On February 3, 2009, Representative Mike Honda (D-CA) introduced the Nanotechnology Advancement and New Opportunities (NANO) Act (H.R. 820), which is intended to ensure the development and responsible stewardship of nanotechnology. Honda based the legislation on the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology, a panel of California nanotechnology experts with backgrounds in established industry, startup companies, consulting groups, non-profits, academia,...

On January 14, 2009, the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) released a report entitled A Hard Pill To Swallow: Barriers to Effective FDA Regulation of Nanotechnology-Based Dietary Supplements, which describes problems at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in regulating nano-enabled dietary supplements and offers recommendations for improving oversight. According to the report, FDA’s ability to regulate the safety of such dietary supplements “is severely limited by lack of...

On January 15, 2009, Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN), Chair of the House Science Committee, introduced the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) Amendments Act of 2009 (H.R. 554). The bill is identical to H.R. 5940, which passed the House in the previous Congress with a 407-6 vote. The legislation would reauthorize the multi-agency research program that Congress established in 2003 through the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003 (Pub. Law 108-153). Under...

On January 12, 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) releasedits interim report on the Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program (NMSP), which is avoluntary program that EPA established to assemble existing data and information frommanufacturers and processors of certain nanoscale materials. Under the Basic Program, EPAinvited participants to voluntarily report available information on the engineered nanoscalematerials they manufacture, import, process, or use. As of...

In a January 5, 2009, Federal Register notice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces receipt of several premanufacture notices (PMN) concerning multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT). Under Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA requires any person who intends to manufacture (defined by statute to include import) a new chemical (i.e., a chemical not on the TSCA Inventory) to notify EPA and comply with the statutory provisions pertaining to the...

In a December 12, 2008, Federal Register notice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces receipt of several premanufacture notices (PMN) from Nano-C, Inc. concerning fullerenes. Under Section 5 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA requires any person who intends to manufacture (defined by statute to include import) a new chemical (i.e., a chemical not on the TSCA Inventory) to notify EPA and comply with the statutory provisions pertaining to the manufacture of new...

On December 29, 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is in the process of finalizing a major joint research effort with a number of United Kingdom (UK) agencies that is intended to develop and validate predictive tools and similar conceptual models that predict exposure, bioavailability, and effects of manufactured nanomaterials in the environment. The UK agencies include the Natural Environment Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research...

According to a notice in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) November 24, 2008, Regulatory Agenda, EPA intends to publish an interim evaluation in March 2009 of the Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program (NMSP), and a final evaluation of the NMSP, including next steps, in April 2010. The NMSP is a voluntary program that EPA established to assemble existing data and information from manufacturers and processors of certain nanoscale materials. The notice states that, under...

On November 19, 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability for review and comment of a petition requesting EPA regulate nanoscale silver products as pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). According to the notice, EPA “has determined that the petition raises issues that potentially affect private and public sector stakeholders.” The International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) and 13 other...