Blogs

On August 30, 2007, Greenpeace International (Greenpeace) issued a report entitled Navigating REACH: An Activists’ Guide To Using and Improving the New EU Chemicals Legislation (Guide), which is intended to explain how the European Union’s (EU) Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation will work, what main issues are at stake, and how the law will be implemented. The Guide highlights provisions that non-governmental...

The September 1, 2007, issue of Environmental Health Perspectives includes an article entitled “Persistent Tissue Kinetics and Redistribution of Nanoparticles, Quantum Dot 705, in Mice: ICP-MS Quantitative Assessment.”  The purpose of the study was to assess the tissue disposition and pharmacokinetics of quantum dots (QD705) in mice.  According to the article, the plasma half-life of QD705 in mice was short (18.5 hours), but analyses revealed QD705 persisted and even...

On August 27, 2007, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing that, pursuant to Section 6(a) of the National Cooperative Research and Production Act of 1993, 15 U.S.C. Sections 4301 et seq., the Nanoparticle Flow Processing Consortium has filed written notifications simultaneously with the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) disclosing (1) the identities of the parties to the venture and (2)...

The European Commission (EC) Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection retained GreenFacts to summarize the EC’s 2006 report entitled Modified Opinion (After Public Consultation) on the Appropriateness of Existing Methodologies to Assess the Potential Risks Associated with Engineered and Adventitious Products of Nanotechnologies. According to GreenFacts, the EC’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) wrote its Opinion for a...

Yesterday the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a proposed rule that would amend the final monograph for over-the-counter (OTC) sunscreen drug products as part of FDA’s ongoing review of OTC drug products. The proposed rule addresses formulation, labeling, and testing requirements for both ultraviolet B (UVB) and ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation protection, would introduce four-star rating system for the level of UVA protection, and would require a warning...

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (CDTSC) will hold a symposium entitled “Nanotechnology Symposium II:  Potential Hazards of Nanomaterials in the Environment” on October 3, 2007. The draft agenda includes the following topics: ...

On August 14, 2007, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) published a Federal Register notice announcing the 30th meeting of the President’s Council on Bioethics. The agenda items listed in the notice include “continue the exploratory phase of a potential inquiry into ethical issues associated with nanotechnology with expert presentations and Council discussions.” The meeting will be September 6-7, 2007....

On August 16, 2007, the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), on behalf of the Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee of the Committee on Technology, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the availability of a document entitled The Prioritization of Environmental, Health, and Safety Research Needs for Engineered Nanoscale Materials: An Interim Document for...

On August 3, 2007, EHP-in-Press posted an article entitled “Nanosize Titanium Dioxide Stimulates Reactive Oxygen Species in Brain Microglia and Damages Neurons, In Vitro.” The article describes the in vitro neurotoxicity of P25, a commercially available titanium dioxide nanomaterial. According to the study, P25 appears to be non-toxic to isolated N27 neurons, but stimulates BV2 microglia to produce reactive oxygen species and damages oxidative...

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has posted several material safety data sheets (MSDS) for nanomaterials in its Nanoparticle Information Library (NIL). The goal of the NIL is to help occupational health professionals, industrial users, worker groups, and researchers organize and share information on nanomaterials, including their health and safety-associated properties.  To view the MSDSs, enter msds in the search field....