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Tag Archives: Nano

Nanotechnology Law — New 2011 Edition

The new 2011 edition of Nanotechnology Law published by West/Thomson/Reuters is now out.  I update the book every year and the new edition has lots of new stuff.  They make excellent Christmas and Birthday gifts, and are a general cure for insomnia.  All proceeds go to my underprivileged daughters’ college fund.  Everyone should have one … Continue Reading

New Nanoscale Carbon Website — CNT Report

Readers may be interested in learning about a new subscription website devoted to nanoscale carbon — CNT Report.  CNT Report is dedicated to bringing its readers the most recent news concerning important issues affecting nanoscale carbon research, development, and commercialization.  CNT Report closely covers all forms of nanoscale carbon in development on the global stage, … Continue Reading

White House Issues Nanotechnology EHS Policy Statement

One June 9, the President’s Office of Budget and Management, United States Trade Representative, and Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a joint memorandum directed to all Executive branch departments and agencies entitled "Policy Principles for the U.S. Decision-Making Concerning Regulation and Oversight of Applications ofNanotechnology and Nanomaterials." The Policy Statement is important because it … Continue Reading

University of California, San Francisco Publishes Nanotechnology Regulatory Policy Recommendations

The Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment (PRHE) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is part of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Services located in UCSF’s School of Medicine. PRHE just published its "Recommendations for Addressing Potential Health Risks from Nanomaterials in California” which was commissioned by California’s Office of … Continue Reading

EPA to Issue New Carbon Nanotube Significant New Use Rule

Here is an advance copy of a new multi-walled carbon nanotube significant new use rule being published tomorrow in the federal register.  It applies only to the specific carbon nanotubes that were the subject of PMN P-08-199, and binds anyone who intends to manufacture, import, or process the specific chemical substance.  It is largely consistent … Continue Reading

Nano TiO2 Cigarette Filters. Bad Idea?

The May 3, 2011 edition of Chemistry World carried an interesting article by James Urqhart — Titanate cigarette filter — regarding several Chinese researchers who have developed a cigarette filter which employs nanoscale TiO2 which supposedly filters out harmful tobacco smoke constituents.  One of the researchers claims that "[a] great range of harmful compounds including … Continue Reading

Nanoscale Carbon Toxicity Testing Proposal Submitted to EPA

    The NanoSafety Consortium for Carbon just submitted a proposed toxicity testing agreement to EPA under Section 4 of the Toxic Substances Control Act covering a range of nanoscale materials including multi-walled carbon nanotubes, double-walled carbon nanotubes, single-walled carbon nanotubes, and graphene.    Key elements for the curious: The chemical substances to be tested … Continue Reading

“The New Steel? Enabling the Carbon Nanomaterials Revolution: Markets, Metrology, Safety, and Scale-up”

“The New Steel? Enabling the Carbon Nanomaterials Revolution: Markets, Metrology, Safety, and Scale-up” is a workshop to be held on February 28th and March 1st, 2011, at NIST’s Gaithersburg, Maryland facility. NIST has assembled an outstanding roster of speakers from industry, academia and government to address the full spectrum of issues, including a special panel on … Continue Reading

ABA Program on Nano Governance

Presenting what looks to be a very interesting line-up of top-rate speakers, the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (Pesticides, Chemical Regulation, and Right-to-Know Committee) is presenting a webinar on January 27, 2011: Nano Governance: The Current State of Federal, State, and International Regulation Here is a summary of the webinar from … Continue Reading

An Industry-Driven Approach to EHS Issues

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

New Nano-specific Regulations Forthcoming from U.S. EPA

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

Nanotechnology VI Symposium: ‘Progress in Protection’

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

Massachusetts Issues Nano-EHS Guidance Document

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

EPA Releases Draft Nanomaterial Case Study: Nanoscale Silver in Disinfectant Spray

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

Wisconsin Legislature to Study Potential Regulation of Nanomaterials

Following California’s lead, Wisconsin’s legislature recently formed a special committee to study the potential regulation of nanomaterials from an environmental, health, and safety perspective.   Our readers will be interested in the committee’s membership and focus: Special Committee on Nanotechnology Chair: Rep. Chuck Benedict Vice Chair: Sen. Mark Miller Legislative Council Staff: Mary Matthias, Pam Shannon, and Larry … Continue Reading

Webinar: The Rise of MWNTs

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

Comments Regarding Nanotechnology Provisions in California’s Green Chemistry Draft Regulation for Safer Consumer Products

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

Is Global Nano-Product Labeling Right Around the Corner?

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

GAO Provides Recommendations Regarding EPA’s Effort to Regulate Nanomaterials

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

Nanoscale Carbon: In Vivo Tox Bibliography

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
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