By Porter Wright on Archaeologists excavating 2400 year old tombs at a site in Turkey are adding something new to the tools of the trade. According to a recent article highly specialized powders consisting of nanoparticles will be applied to the rock surfaces in square-centimeter doses. The nanoparticles will be specially designed to be chemically compatible with the … 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 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 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 Friends of the Earth – Australia (FOE-Aus) recently released a new report examining the presence of nanoparticles in cosmetics produced by such well known companies as Revlon, Max Factor, and The Body Shop. In the press release accompanying the report, FOE-Aus noted that the labeling on cosmetics containers didn’t reflect the presence of nanoparticles in the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on New Edition of Nanotechnology Law Report Inside you will find: EPA Considering New Approach to Nanoscale Materials Under TSCA EPA May Issue Mandatory Data Collection Rule for Nanoscale Materials Under TSCA EPA Takes Aim at Antimicrobial Products Under FIFRA EPA Unveils New Principles for Chemical Management Reform EPA Report on the Use of Nanoscale TiO2 … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on This article was originally published by the National Nanomanufacturing Network’s "InterNano" project (www.internano.com). It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. A recent study published in the well-known medical journal, the European Respiratory Journal, has been receiving significant publicity as the authors have claimed their findings support an apparent linkage between workplace exposures … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Nanotechnology Law & Business just published our new article on the EPA’s recent treatment of nanoscale materials under the Toxic Substances Control Act. An abstract for the article is below and you can find a copy of the article itself here. Abstract: This article provides a summary of recent (2008-2009) regulatory efforts by the U.S. … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on By now, I think that most readers of this blog have either read "Exposure to Nanoparticles is Related to Pleural Effusion, Pulmonary Fibrosis, and Granuloma" by Yuguo Song, Xue Li, and Xuqin Du, recently published in the European Respiratory Journal or any of the news articles based on it, such as this one from Reuters. The paper … 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 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 Much of the funding and research in nanobiotechnology has been directed at applying nanotechnology toward treating human illnesses and injuries. Dr. Edward Corredor and his collegues looked at something else: plants. The possibility of targeting the movement of nanoparticles to specific sites of an organism paves the way for the use of nanobiotechnology in the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on This article, which appeared in the Nov. 17, 2008 issue of Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Volume 37, No. 3, was reproduced with permission from Agra Informa. Further use of this article is prohibited without the express written permission of the publisher. For more information about Pesticide & Toxic Chemical News, Food Chemical News or other Agra … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on At this morning’s session of the International Conference on Nanotechnology Occupational & Environmental Health & Safety in Cincinnati, Ohio, Daniel Japuntich, Division Scientist at 3M, presented "Filtration and Respirators: Current Knowledge." Japuntich shared 3M’s research findings indicating HEPA respirator materials are effective in filtering nanoparticles down to three (3) nanometers in size. … 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
