By Porter Wright on Here is a bit of shameless self-promotion. The 2010 edition of my book — "Nanotechnology Law" — has just been published by West/Thomson/Reuters. You can find it here. Please pass the word. … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Rep. Janice Schakowsky, with Reps. Ed Markey and Tammy Baldwin among the co-sponsors, introduced H.R. 5786, the "Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010" on 07/20/2010. The act would amend Chapter VI of the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act by adding new language regarding the marketing, labelling, testing and regulation of cosmetic manufacturers, packagers and distributors. Two sections … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, on July 22, favorably reported S. 3605, the Senate version of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, sending it on the the full Senate for debate. The text of the bill as reported is not yet available from THOMAS, however the text of the bill as … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Porter Wright attorney John Monica was quoted in a recent article discussing progress and obstacles in the field of nanotechnology. The article is available at http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/88/8829cover.html.… Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On July 20, 2010, David Hwang of Lux Research gave a webinar entitled: "Lux Research Nanomaterials: The Rise of MWNTs: Oversupply Hides Real Opportunities." Mr. Hwang’s presentation identified the top global producers of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), explained why commercialization over the past 25 years has been relatively "anemic," and made some predictions for where … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Public comments regarding California’s Green Chemistry Draft Regulation for Safer Consumer Products were due last week. My comment /letter on the nanotechnology provisions contained in the draft regulation is set forth below. Additionally, you can find a copy of the draft regulation here. July 15, 2010 Heather Jones, MS 22A California Department of Toxic … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on This article originally appeared on the National Nanomanufacturing Network’s InterNano website on July 20, 2010. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. On July 9, 2010, the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) Technical Committee 229 on Nanotechnologies presented a webinar requesting general public input regarding ISO’s … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (“OSTP”) and STCI VenCorps.org. has established the National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategy Portal (“NNI Strategy Portal” or “Portal”), an online interactive program designed to facilitate public responses to specific questions posed by the National Nanotechnology Initiative (“NNI”), a multi-agency Federal research and development initiative created to promote … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Today’s issue of the Federal Register carries a request for information (RFI) from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, as part of the effort to gain input from stakeholders in creating a new National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan, to be issued in December 2010. The RFI seeks responses from the stakeholder community … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The Capital Hill newspaper POLITICO carries an article today discussing how technology related bills awaiting votes in the Senate, including the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, are stalled due to the Senate’s focusing on the financial reform bill, the upcoming confirmation vote on Elena Kagan to be the next Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court, the upcoming … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Friday, the United States Government Accountability Office issued its Report to the Chairman (Barbara Boxer) of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, US Senate, GAO-10-549: Nanotechnology: Nanomaterials Are Widely used in Commerce, but EPA Faces Challenges in Regulating Risk. Highlights from the report follow. The report confirms speculation that EPA intends to issue certain new … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Recently, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) Office of Pharmaceutical Science issued the above entitled addition to CDER’s Manual of Policies and Procedures(MAPP). This produced some uproar in the nanotech community by some who interpreted a single line as indicating that the FDA was about to start redefining nanomaterials. The purpose of this new MAPP … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The "Great Recession" continues to linger, hovering over the American economy like the cliched scene from bad Westerns of vultures circling in the desert sky. Although the economy has begun to show signs of recovery, the recessions effects are still being felt, particularly by State governments. With fewer tax revenues coming in, State legislatures and Governors … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (“WPMN”) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) has revised its nanomaterial testing guidance document, first published in 2009 to support nanotechnology safety in the industry. The guidance manual was conceived primarily to assist sponsors of the OECD Sponsorship Programme for the Testing of Manufactured Nanomaterials, who … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The Members of the European Union’s (“EU”) Environment Committee (“MEPs”) recently voted in favor of proposed amendments to the EU’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive, first passed in 2002, banning the use of nanosilver and long multi-walled carbon nanotubes in electrical and electronic products. The legislators also approved language requiring that any electrical or electronic … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The 2010 New England Nanomanufacturing Summit, which will be held at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell from June 22-24, 2010, will highlight areas of practice in the field of nanomanufacturing that are near-term and may soon be capable of commercial development and marketing. The challenges facing production of nanoscale systems and devices make the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The Silver Technology Working Group (“SNWG”) of the Silver Research Consortium LLC recently sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) expressing concern about a proposed interpretation issued by the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs (“OPP”) of a nanoscale pesticide products regulation under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (“FIFRA”), 7 U.S.C. § … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Nanotechnology has often been touted as a new and potentially revolutionary way to improve nearly every aspect of modern life, but has also faced doubt from skeptics who have raised concerns about the downside to incorporating such innovative technology in everyday life. Possible dangers include the unintended consequences of the accumulation of nanoparticles in the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On Friday, May 28, 2010, debate on H.R. 5116, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, discussed here earlier, resumed. As readers may recall, in the earlier debate in the House, a motion to recommit the bill to committee and for it to be reported back with an amendment, had been adopted by the House. On … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In a notice in today’s Federal Register the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office announced that it will be holding a public workshop on July 13-14, 2010, for the purpose of giving stakeholders (defined as representatives of the research community, the private sector and NGOs and members of the general public) a forum for presenting their input regarding … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making Prince Otto von Bismarck On April 22, 2010, Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee introduced HR 5116, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, which was then referred to the House Committee on Science and Technology and the House Committee on Education and … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The NanoSafety Consortium for Carbon has recently posted a bibliography of in vivo tox studies on its website. The bibliography is (obviously) a work in progress. We would greatly appreciate it if our readers would bring to our attention any pertinent articles that are not already on the bibliography. The articles will be used to inform … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Members of the European Parliament’s environment, public health and food safety committee have voted to control the use of nanotechnologies in foods for humans. The proposed measure entirely excluded entry onto European Union (“EU”) markets of any food derived from cloned animals as well as food produced by nanotechnology processes, unless such food has undergone … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The Nano-Network and Wright State University are holding a joint conference on Multifunctional Nanomaterials: Cross-cutting Growth Opportunities in Energy, Environment and Aerospace Applications on May 24, 2010 at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. "The aim of this one-day networking event is to bring together leaders and sponsors from Ohio industry, AFRL, AFOSR and university … Continue Reading
