By Porter Wright on The task of the Inspectors General of Federal agencies is to examine "all actions of a government agency or military organization. Conducting audits and investigations, either independently or in response to reports of wrongdoing, the OIG ensures that the agency’s operations are in compliance with the law and general established policies of the government. Audits … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on On June 17, 2011, the Senate Committee on Armed Services announced that S. 1253, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2012 had been passed unanimously and had been reported out of Committee and sent on to the Senate for debate. S. 1253 provided $200 million in funding for the "Rapid Innovation Program" established by PL 111-383, the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on At the request of Linda S. Adams, California’s Secretary for Environmental Protection, the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has postponed implementation of the controversial Safer Consumer Product Alternatives Regulations. The regulations, the result of legislation passed by the California State Assembly in 2008 (Chapter 559, Acts of 2008), were designed to to establish a … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Here is the Summer 2010 edition of NanoLawReport. Heading out to the beach for a few days to top off the summer. :)… Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on 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
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 Earlier this month, the Reuters news service (now part of Thomson Reuters) carried an article by Richard A. Liroff, "Nanomaterials: Why Your Company Should Sweat the Small Stuff", primarily aimed at management executives at companies using or contemplating using nanomaterials in their products or manufacturing processes. Noting that nanomaterials present "the potential to yield extraordinary health, … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Last Friday, EPA’s Office of Research and Development announced in the Federal Register a 45 day comment period for its new draft case study on the use of nanoscale TiO2 in water and sunscreens: "Nanomaterial Case Studies: Nanoscale Titanium Dioxide in Water Treatment and in Topical Sunscreen" FR 74,146 at 38188 (July 31, 2009). The report … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Readers may interested in learning that EPA issued a clarification today regarding its single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotube SNURs previously issued in June 2009. EPA’s announcement follows. Stay tuned . . . Good afternoon. On June 24, 2009, the U.S. EPA issued final Significant New Use Rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Zurich North America recently published the June 2009 edition of its Industry Insight online magazine which focuses exclusively on nanotechnology issues. The magazine contains four informative articles which are well worth reading: "At the leading edge: Zurich’s thought leadership on nanotechnology;" "No small thing: The enormous potential of nano;" "The kings of small things: The regulatory … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Here is the Summer 2009 edition of Nanotechnology Law Report. The newsletter contains the below-listed articles (and more): EPA Issues Significant New Use Rules for Carbon Nanotubes Are Nanoparticles Released by Cutting or Compounding Nano-Composites? Annual Nano TiO2 Production Estimated at 44,000 Metric Tons Are Nano Consumer Products Headed Underground? Oversight of Next Generation Nanotechnology … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Perhaps the most overlooked issue when examining potential nano-related environmental, health, and safety concerns is whether there is any true likelihood of exposure in reasonably foreseeable use scenarios. While there should continue to be extensive toxicity testing for certain nanoscale materials, the most interesting research (from my perspective) relates to potential workplace and/or condumer exposure … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The European Trade Union Confederation adopted a "Resolution on Nanotechnologies and Nanomaterials" in June of 2008. At the recent "Working and Living with Nanotechnologies" conference earlier this month, ETUC presented this resolution and a powerpoint that both summarized and expanded on issues raised by the resolution. The resolution takes a very positive approach to nanotechnology, anticipating … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Late last month, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholar’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) published a paper on the ability of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to deal with possible environmental, health, and safety risks potentially posed by the use of some nanoscale materials in certain consumer products. E. Marla Felcher, "The … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Research and Market recently announced the publication of a new report addressing environmental uses and applications of nanomaterials. The report covers many applications, environmental media, and toxicology, and, "describes nanotechnologies, nanomaterials, nanotechnology companies, universities and research centers related to nanotechnologies for new environmental technologies. Areas covered by are leading edge research in emission reduction, environmental remediation … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News reports that chemical manufacturer DuPont and the nonprofit organization Environmental Defense are developing a joint framework for risk assessment of nanomaterials. The framework itself is for "the responsible development, production, use and disposal of nano-scale materials that identifies, manages, and reduces potential risks across all lifecycle phases."… Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The United States Department of Defense’s Materials of Evolving Regulatory Interest Team (MERIT) recently announced that it added "nanomaterials" to its emerging contaminants watch list. The DoD defines "emerging contaminants" as those chemicals and materials with a "perceived or real threat to human health or environment," an "evolving regulatory interest," and "either no peer reviewed health standard … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Rick Weiss reported in yesterday’s Washington Post that the EPA plans to regulate silver nanomaterials used in consumer products as "germ-killing" agents: The decision — which will affect the marketing of high-tech odor-destroying shoe liners, food-storage containers, air fresheners, washing machines and a wide range of other products that contain tiny bacteria-killing particles of silver … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on An October report authored by Michael R. Taylor, Esq., former FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy (1991-1994) may not be warmly received by all nanomanufacturers. Taylor’s report focuses on what he sees as FDA’s three primary purposes in relation to nanotechnology: (1) ensure product safety; (2) foster innovation; and (3) maintain public confidence in nanoproducts. Taylor … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In the September 2006 edition of Nanotechnology Law & Business, two (2) employees of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (“CDER”) — Nakissa Sadrieh and Parvaneh Espandiari — published “Nanotechnology and the FDA: What Are the Scientific and Regulatory Considerations for Products Containing Nanomaterials?” The article begins with a disclaimer that the authors’ views … Continue Reading
