By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on An official at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") stated recently that the agency has never cited an employer for exposing workers to nanomaterials. OSHA remains focused on prevention and the development of guidance measures to stop exposures before they happen. Moreover, because the agency is aware that workers can be exposed to … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on A food safety strategist for "As You Sow" recently indicated that the group is conducting a survey "of a wide selection of food manufacturers and retailers regarding their use of nanomaterials in food products." The group is also creating a "Nanofood Sourcing Framework" designed to guide food-related companies on the issues they should be considering … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on Nano Engineering Students Create World’s Smallest Images of Stephen Colbert Two nanotechnology engineering students at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Canada, have created the world’s smallest images of comedian Stephen Colbert. The undergraduate students, John Maier and Erin Bedford, made the images using aluminum sputtered onto substrate through a photoresist mask. The smallest … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on On May 4, 2011, research institute RTI International will host a policy forum entitled, "Nanotechnology: The Huge Challenge of Regulating Tiny Technologies." The forum will be held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, where experts will discuss the issues and concerns regarding the difficulties faced by agencies in drafting federal regulation and … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Kadmon Pharmaceuticals LLC ("Kadmon"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing medicines and therapies in the areas of oncology, infectious diseases, and immunology, has entered into an agreement with research and development company Nano Terra, Inc. ("Nano Terra"), whereby Kadmon would acquire Nano Terra’s perpetual, worldwide exclusive licenses to three novel, clinical stage product candidates … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on The Nanodermatology Society ("NDA" or "the society"), an organization of doctors, scientists, and researchers, was founded with the mission to "promote a greater understanding of the scientific and medical aspects of nanotechnology in skin health and disease." The society recently addressed concerns about the use of nano materials to formulate nanoparticulate titanium dioxide and … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on “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
By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on 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
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 A National Nanotechnology Innovation Summit to mark the 10th anniversary of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) will be held December 8-10, 2010 at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center in National Harbor, MD. The Nano Science and Technology Institute (NTSI) will join with the White House Office of Science & Technology (OSTP), the … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on 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
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
