This article originally appeared on the National Nanomanufacturing Network’s InterNano website. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. On December 6, 2010, the Nanoscale Science, Engineering, and Technology Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Technology released the draft "National Nanotechnology Initiative 2011 Environmental, Health, and Safety Strategy" (2011 NNI … Continue Reading
This article originally appeared on the National Nanomanufacturing Network’s InterNano website. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. In late November, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) published a Current Intelligence Bulletin entitled "Occupational Exposure to Carbon Nanotubes and Nanofibers." The document is not an official "agency determination or policy," and … Continue Reading
UPDATE The House agreed to the Senate amendment to HR 5116 on 12/21/2010. We’ll discuss the implications of this in more detail after the Xmas holiday. The Senate unanimously passed H.R. 5116 on Friday 12/17/2010, after first adopting an amendment in the nature of a substitute. As opposed to the version of H.R. 5116 that was … Continue Reading
Harry Potter sat quietly at his desk, trying once more to make his way through "The History of Magic" that Professor Binns had assigned, when Ron Weasley came into his room, excited and out of breath, holding the current issue of The Daily Prophet. "Harry, have you seen this?" "Seen what", asked Harry, trying to sound slightly … Continue Reading
My new Nanotechnology Law & Business article — "An Industry Driven Approach to EHS Issues: ‘The NanoSafety Consortium for Carbon’" — can be found here. The abstract follows. The NanoSafety Consortium for Carbon (NCC) is an industry-driven group formed to proactively address potential environmental, health, safety, and regulatory concerns related to the commercia-lization of its … Continue Reading
Congress returned to DC on Monday 11/15/2010 to begin a "lame duck" session . Congress, in particular the Senate, will find their agendas crowed with debate on several bills that need to be voted on before adjourning sine die sometime in December. Therefore, it seemed a good time to review the status of the bills that … Continue Reading
Monday’s Federal Register carried a notice from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Nanoscience, Engineering and Technology Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council inviting the public to comment on the 2010 National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan. The NNI Strategic Plan is the framework that underpins the nanotechnology work of the … Continue Reading
This article originally appeared on the National Nanomanufacturing Network’s InterNano website. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. In its ongoing efforts to guard against potential unintended environmental, health, or safety injuries related to possible exposure to certain nanoscale materials, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to issue three new proposed nano-specific … Continue Reading
As recently reported by the Washington Post and others, the FTC has ended an inquiry into privacy concerns over Google’s Street View service after Google pledged to stop gathering email, passwords, and other information from residential WiFi networks as its Street View cars creep through neighborhoods with computers on and cameras rolling. For some background … Continue Reading
TheSwedish Royal Academy of Sciences, in accordance with the will of Afred Nobel, announced the winners of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday October 5, 2010. As most people have heard by now, the winners were Russian expatriates Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov , both Professors at the UK’s University of Manchester. Professors Geim … Continue Reading
The Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology in Baltimore recently received a 5 year $13.6 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to establish the Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence. The center, under the co-direction of Professors Peter Searson and Martin Pomper, will initially focus on four research projects: 1) the application of quantum dots and silica super paramagnetic … Continue Reading
Facebook and other social media have had a real impact on the workplace–from influencing hiring and termination decisions to creating a new spin on issues relating to trade secrets, workplace privacy, and employee computer usage policies. As this post from our sister blog EmployerLawReoprt.com reminds us, each situation should be evaluated on its own merits.… Continue Reading
While nothing new by now, the practice of recording images or video of others without their knowledge and then disseminating the content on a worldwide basis has come under particular scrutiny over the past week. The tragic story of the Rutgers University student (as reported by ABC News here, where I first learned of it) has become the basis of a worldwide conversation … Continue Reading
California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (CDTSC) held a conference today during which they identified the next six nanoscale materials they intend to target in their second round of data call ins. Regular readers may remember that CDTSC targeted 26 manufacturers/importers of carbon nanotubes with its first data call in in 2009. In addition to … Continue Reading
In the Federal Register for Friday 09/17/2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), acting under the authority granted to it under section 5(a)(2) of the TSCA, issued as a final rule Significant New Use Rules (SNURS) affecting two chemical substances identified as generic multi-walled and single-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs and SWCNTs respectively). These SNURs are applicable … Continue Reading
Cal. DTSC and UCLA Present — Nanotechnology VI Symposium: ‘Progress in Protection’ This one-day workshop, on Wednesday, October 13, is sponsored by the California Department of Toxic Substance Control and UCLA. Leading scientists will discuss the latest strategies in protecting workers in the research, development and manufacturing of nanomaterials, and define further research and developmental … Continue Reading
In an article in the September issue of Nature ("Nanotechnology: Small wonders"), Corie Lok reviews the beginnings and accomplishments of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) over the last ten years. The article attributes the creation of the NNI to four factors: – A booming US economy, particularly in the high tech sector – Support from the Clinton … Continue Reading
In the Federal Register issue of 08/13/2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released for public comment a proposed rule that would, if adopted, significantly change the TSCA Inventory Update Reporting (IUR). The first part of the notice, "Supplementary Information", explains the proposed changes to 40 CFR Parts 704, 710, and 711. The text of the proposed rule … Continue Reading
This article originally appeared on the National Nanomanufacturing Network’s InterNano website on August 25, 2010. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. Massachusetts’ Office of Technical Assistance and Technology (OTA) recently released its “OTA Technology Guidance Document: Nanotechnology – Considerations for Safe Development” which has been in development for the past couple of … Continue Reading
Monday’s federal register carried a notice from the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announcing a public workshop on "Medical Devices & Nanotechnology: Manufacturing, Characterization, and Biocompatibility Considerations" to be held September 23 2010, from 8AM to 5PM at the Hilton Washington DC/North Gaithersburg, in Gathersburg, MD. Persons interested in participating in the workshop need to register by … Continue Reading
The EPA recently released a draft of its "Nanomaterial Case Study: Nanoscale Silver in Disinfectant Spray" which you can download here. The document is 323 pages long and has 6 chapters: (i) Introduction; (ii) Introduction to Silver and Nanoscale Silver; (iii) Life-Cycle Stages; (iv) Fate and Transport in Environmental Media; (v) Exposure, Uptake, and Dose; … Continue Reading
The Congressional Research Service, in March of this year, released a report, "Nanotechnology: A Policy Primer", written by John F. Sargent, Jr., a specialist in Science and Technology Policy. The primer’s first section focuses on a review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). A table showing funding from various government agencies and departments for NNI shows … Continue Reading
Inside Washington’s Inside the EPA newsletter carries an article regarding the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention submitting for review a notice outlining EPA’s intention to use its existing regulatory authority under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to require that manufacturers of pesticides provide more information to EPA about their use of … Continue Reading
