All Knowledge & Insights By Date

On August 14, 2023, the United Kingdom’s (UK) Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) called for the submission of any scientific information relevant to the safety assessment of nanomaterials used in cosmetics. Article 16 of the UK Cosmetics Regulation requires that cosmetic products containing nanomaterials be notified to the Secretary of State at least six months prior to being placed on the market. These notifications may be completed via the Submit Cosmetic Product Notification...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on April 11, 2023, that its Agricultural Research Service (ARS) recently developed sustainable, machine-washable antimicrobial wipes that can be used at least 30 times for cleaning hard and nonporous surfaces. According to USDA, ARS researchers developed the antimicrobial wipes “by using raw cotton fiber that naturally produced silver nanoparticles inside the fiber in the presence of a silver precursor.” USDA states that the...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on April 11, 2023, that its Agricultural Research Service (ARS) recently developed sustainable, machine-washable antimicrobial wipes that can be used at least 30 times for cleaning hard and nonporous surfaces. According to USDA, ARS researchers developed the antimicrobial wipes “by using raw cotton fiber that naturally produced silver nanoparticles inside the fiber in the presence of a silver precursor.” USDA states that the...

On February 1, 2023, the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will hold a webinar on the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) implications of metal nanoparticles in aquatic environments. According to NNI, the focus will be on copper and copper oxide, nickel, and silver nanoparticles. Each expert panelist will provide an overview on the current state of knowledge for a particular metal nanoparticle. The panelists will discuss methods used for identifying, measuring, and assessing the...

.The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has published for comment a draft study report entitled “Applicability of the key event based TG 442D for in vitro skin sensitisation testing of nanomaterials.” Switzerland conducted experimental work with selected nanomaterials using OECD Test Guideline (TG) 442D (KeratinoSensTM) and made a basic in vitro to in vivo correlation to outline the potential relevance of the results for prediction of skin sensitisation of...

On September 13, 2022, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “Can the Brain’s Gatekeeper Fight a Nano-Attack?” by Dr. Eugenia (Éva) Valsami-Jones, Professor of Environmental Nanoscience at the University of Birmingham, who co-authored an article entitled “Biotransformation modulates the penetration of metallic nanomaterials across an artificial blood–brain barrier model.” The researchers set out to explore systematically how...

On July 29, 2022, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a Technical Report: Occupational Exposure Sampling for Engineered Nanomaterials. Since 2010, NIOSH has developed guidance for workplace sampling for three engineered nanomaterials: carbon nanotubes (CNT) and nanofiber (CNF), silver, and titanium dioxide, each of which has an elemental mass-based NIOSH recommended exposure limit (REL). NIOSH has also developed a practical approach to...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has published the latest edition of the Developments in Delegations on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials — Tour de Table. The Tour de Table compiles information provided by delegations on developments concerning the safety of manufactured nanomaterials. It includes the following information on developments in the United States....

On September 7, 2021, the European Commission (EC) Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) posted a preliminary opinion on “Draft Environmental Quality Standards for Priority Substances under the Water Framework Directive” for silver and its compounds. The Water Framework Directive requires the EC to identify priority substances among those presenting significant risk to or via the aquatic environment and to set environmental quality standards (EQS) for...

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a Scientific Opinion entitled “Safety assessment of the substance silver nanoparticles for use in food contact materials.” The EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) assessed the safety of the additive silver nanoparticles intended to be used in plastics. All the silver particles were in the size range of 1-100 nanometers (nm), with about 15 nm mean diameter and 99% by number of particles...