By Porter Wright on 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
By Porter Wright on Inside EPA reports today that a "senior policy adviser for EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs, said EPA would issue in June a long-awaited response to a 2008 activist petition asking the agency to regulate nanoscale silver under FIFRA." The article also mentions that EPA intends to define nanoscale ingredients for FIFRA purposes as "an ingredient … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Earlier today, an IEEE blogger commented on a nanosilver article we previously re-published on this cite. The original article was written by the Silver Nanotechnology Working Group and was first published on the University of Massachusetts, Amherst’s InterNano website (where I am Contibuting Editor for Environmental, Health and Safety and Regulation). Dexter Johnson comments on the Nanoclast … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on This article was contributed by Dr. Rosalinda Volpe, Executive Director, Silver Nanotechnology Working Group (SNWG) and originally appeared on the National Nanomanufacturing Network’s InterNano website earlier today. It is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported. On November 3 – 6, 2009 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) meeting … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on In this article, we note a couple of recent EPA enforcement actions against manufacturers allegedly making unsubstantiated antimicrobial claims for their products – much like occurred in the IOGEAR computer keyboard/mice episode in 2008. Although these products do not purport to use nanoscale materials, the alleged claims for these products are similar to those made by … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on A much valued contributor from CyberRegs provided us with the following information from the Federal Register that may be of interest to readers: There will be a 4-day consultation meeting of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel (FIFRA SAP) to consider and review a set of scientific issues related to the assessment … 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 Inside U.S. Trade reports three interesting nano-regulatory developments: (i) the "EPA has signaled that it may soon decide to regulate nano-silver as a pesticide under " FIFRA; (ii) the "EPA may rule favorably on some points" raised in the 2008 citizen’s petition filed by 14 advocacy groups seeking more restrictive regulation of nanoscale silver; and … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on With all of the interest in nanosilver generated by the recent EPA petition filed by the International Center for Technology Assessment, I thought I would post some background material on EHS issues surrounding silver. A couple of disclaimers: the material is not comprehensive, and you might see parts of it again in "Nanotechnology Law and Policy" … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on A recent study by two Arizona State University researchers found that socks made of fabric incorporating nanoscale silver may potentially release that silver into wash-water. T. Benn, et al., "Nanoparticle Silver Release into Water from Commercially Available Sock Fabrics," Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 42, at 4133-4139 (2008). Why put silver in your socks? Because it … Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on Since first being reported in the Washington Post, and relayed here, more information concerning EPA’s proposed regulation of nanosilver under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) has been uncovered.… Continue Reading
