September 2010

In late September 2010, The Centre for Food Safety (CFS), an arm of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, published a risk assessment study “Nanotechnology and Food Safety.”

The aims of the study were:

- to identify applications of nanotechnology in the food sector
- to identify the potential health and safety implications of nanotechnology in the food sector; and
- to review existing strategies for the risk assessment of engineered nanomaterials in food.

Some key excerpts from the CFS Study are included below.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain are hosting an International Symposium on Nanotechnology in the Food Chain, to be held in Brussels, Belgium on November 24, 2010.

Nanotechnology has many promising applications emerging for the areas of agriculture and food (smart packaging, agrochemicals, etc.). It has the potential to bring significant benefits to the agriculture and food industries and to consumers, but may also introduce potential risks for human health and the environment.

The Symposium will present the current knowledge regarding the applications, opportunities and risks of nanotechnology in the food chain.  It will also consider the gaps in knowledge, legislation and control methods, in order to inform an international audience of policy makers, consumers, researchers, industrial representatives, etc.

Complete information on the Symposium and the program may be found on this site:
http://www.favv-afsca.fgov.be/nanotechnology/information/

We are pleased to see our nanotechnology law blog going strong after one year! The Nanotort Law Blog, which launched last September to provide a valuable information resource aimed at informing lawyers, claims handlers, risk managers, and media on issues not readily available elsewhere on emerging risks associated with new technologies.

Led by Bowman and Brooke Partner Ron Wernette, the Nanotort Law Blog offers readers up-to-date information about litigation risks and risk management in the fast-developing field of nanotechnology.

Click here to read more on www.bowmanandbrooke.com.

Now you can follow the Nanotort Law Blog on Twitter!  Follow Ron @nanotortlaw or click here: http://www.twitter.com/nanotortlaw.

The EPA on September 17, 2010, published final Significant New Use Rules (SNURs) for both single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Those types of carbon nanotubes are the most commonly used nanomaterial in industrial applications and are gaining increasingly widespread use in a variety of consumer products.

Many nanoscale materials – including nanotubes – are regarded as "chemical substances" under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). To ensure that nanoscale materials are manufactured and used in a manner that protects against unreasonable risks to human health and the environment, EPA is pursuing a comprehensive regulatory approach under TSCA. This four-pronged approach includes: Premanufacture notifications; Significant New Use Rules; an information gathering rule; and a test rule.

Ahead of the EU Commission’s nanotechnology regulatory review next year, several EU members are advocating the creation of a specific register for nanomaterials under the EU’s REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals) chemicals regulation. There are also calls for mandatory labeling of the presence of nanomaterials in consumer products sold in the EU.

Most recently, on September 14, 2010, the Belgian EU Presidency proposed those nanotechnology regulatory measures at the opening of an EU workshop on the traceability of nanomaterials. "Nanomaterials are increasingly present in consumer products and everyday items we use, and yet we don't know a lot about them," said Paul Magnette, the Belgian minister in charge of consumer protection and environment. He also argued that "the current development approach for nanomaterials without prior notification of their presence or labelling of their characteristics or potential toxicity is not acceptable".

The NanoBusiness Alliance, the world's leading nanotechnology trade association, will hold the 9th annual NanoBusiness 2010 conference and exhibition, at McCormick Place in Chicago on September 27-28.  For event details, including the conference schedule and registration information, visit http://www.nanobusiness2010.com.

This year’s conference focuses on the issues that are of top-line importance to the NanoBusiness Alliance’s constituents, and includes sessions on:

-  Innovations In Nanotechnology

-  Creating an Ecosystem for Nanotechnology Commercialization

-  Environmental, Health and Safety

-  Nanomedicine

Nanotechnology VI Symposium: “Progress in Protection” is co-sponsored by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and the University of California Los Angeles’ Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (UC-CEIN). The symposium will build on topics discussed at DTSC’s previous nanotechnology symposiums. It also emphasizes occupational safety and health concepts, which are keys to reducing potential risks to workers and the environment from engineered nanomaterials (ENMs).

Discussion topics will include:  

- Collaboration between DTSC’s Office of the Chief Scientist, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and California’s leading universities to fill data gaps via the development of ENM risk-based guidelines. 

-Practical insights from current nanomaterial manufacturers regarding health and safety.

In Germany the early detection of health risks in consumer-related areas is the responsibility of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR). In this context it has developed, together with the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) and the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA), a research strategy to identify the potential risks of nanotechnology. The goal of this research strategy is to structure this research area, to develop methods for the measurement and characterization of nanoparticles, to collect information on exposure, toxicological and eco-toxicological effects, and to promote the development of a risk–based test and evaluation strategy.

When questions about the safety and the potential risks of nanotechnology were becoming increasingly pressing, the BfR in 2006 began to carry out the interdisciplinary research project “Delphi Study on Nanotechnology - Expert Survey of the Use of Nanomaterials in Food and Consumer Products.”  Parts of the study were undertaken in cooperation with the Centre for Interdisciplinary Risk Research and Sustainable Technology Development (ZIRN) of Stuttgart University. The goal of this project was to lay the foundations for future BfR risk assessments of nanotechnology applications.

In September 2010 the results of the BfR Nano Delphi study were published, offering a detailed discussion of each of the basic nanostructured substances currently on the market, as well as across a variety of product uses.   This work is very helpful for those currently tasked with assessing and managing the likely future risks associated with nanomaterial usage.

Nanomaterials currently in existence exhibit various physical, chemical, mechanical, optical, magnetic and biological properties, as well as different internal/external structures. Because scientists and researchers in this new field have very diverse backgrounds, and are working on different applications, there are now many divergent understandings and assumptions associated with emerging scientific concepts in this area. That not only hampers development but also impedes the type of useful environmental, health, and safety (EHS) research that is necessary.

A clear understanding and a logical classification of nanomaterials is necessary, not only for this technology to develop further, faster and better, but in order to effectively use valid scientific methods to study the toxicity and related safety of the multitude of nanomaterials in use and under development. The lack of uniformity with respect to nanotechnology and nanomaterial definitions and related standards also has important implications for those corporate officials and lawyers with responsibility for managing and minimizing risk, including litigation risk. Evidence of compliance or noncompliance can have a powerful impact in personal injury litigation regarding issues of state of the art, negligence, recklessness, and punitive damages.