December 2011

The legal battle has finally been joined.  The first lawsuit over the health and environmental risks of nanotechnology and nanomaterials has been filed.

On December 21, 2011, a coalition of nonprofit consumer safety and environmental groups sued the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. International Center for Technology Assessment, et al v Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., Case No. CV 11-6592, is an Administrative Procedure Act case seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The Plaintiffs (ICTA; Friends of the Earth; The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration; The Center for Environmental Health; Food and Water Watch; and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy) demand that the FDA respond to a petition these organizations filed with the agency in 2006.

The eighty-page 2006 Petition documents the groups' claimed scientific evidence of nanomaterial risks stemming from their unpredictable toxicity and seemingly unlimited mobility. The 2006 petition requested FDA take several regulatory actions, including requiring nano-specific product labeling and health and safety testing, and undertaking an analysis of the environmental and health impacts of nanomaterials in products approved by the agency. The FDA had yet to act on the 2006 petition, prompting the suit.

On November 24, 2011, the EU's SAFENANO and ObservatoryNANO published an excellent new resource, the “Nanotechnology EHS Landscape” report.   I recommend a review by anyone with an interest in nanosafety and risk issues.

SAFENANO continues to offer great up-to-date information on nano safety issues and is one of my "must-read" sites on a regular basis.

The new report provides a map and concise overview of key organizations and their activities in nanotechnology Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) issues.  Activity in this sector has been growing for a decade, with multiple position papers, roadmaps, standardization committees, research groups, and significant research conducted. The literature has grown exponentially in the past 3 years in particular.

You may be interested in an article published by BNA's Product Safety & Liability Reporter in November 2011: "Labeling and Warning for Products Containing Engineered Nanomaterials: Learning From the Past or We Are Doomed to Repeat It"

The article is a very good collaboration by attorneys William Rogers and Joseph Clark (Day Pitney LLP) and scientists Joyce Tsuji, David Dahlstrom, and Steven Arndt (Exponent), and provides guidance about how to approach the new world of labeling, warning, and instruction creation for products containing nanomaterials.

A few excerpts are provided below, to help you decide whether you want to get the full article.

A new study led by a group of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) researchers suggests that one of the most commonly used nanomaterials for consumer products can potentially cause cancer.

The chemical, Zinc Oxide (ZO), is used to absorb harmful ultra violet light. But when it is turned into nano-sized particles, they are able to enter human cells and may damage DNA, according to the new research findings. This in turn activates a protein called p53, whose duty is to prevent damaged cells from multiplying and becoming cancerous. However, cells that lack p53 or do not produce enough functional p53 may instead develop into cancerous cells when they come into contact with ZO nanoparticles.