Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

In our critique of EPA's Chemical Assessment and Management Program (ChAMP), we have pointed out that, despite its limitations, there is value in the hazard data that EPA is collecting and analyzing.  How so? Read more »

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist and Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

This example raises some new issues as well as some we discussed in the earlier examples:  EPA relies on a highly flawed "category approach" that ignores major differences in the properties and structures of the 13 members of this category.  It compounds this problem by unquestioningly accepting data from inadequate studies to assert low toxicity, rather than demanding that sufficient studies be provided.  As a result, it fails to identify, let alone require to be filled, the enormous gaps in the data available for many of the category members.  EPA ignores or dismisses without explanation its own earlier comments raising serious concerns about the quality and completeness of data provided by the sponsor of these chemicals under the HPV Challenge.  Finally, this example once again shows how EPA's heavy reliance on self-reported use information from manufacturers paints an incomplete and potentially very misleading picture of the actual uses of industrial chemicals.  Read more »

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist and Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

Our analysis of EPA's risk decision under ChAMP for this category of toxic chemicals vividly illustrates how EPA has failed to adopt a health-protective approach to its screening of HPV chemicals.  Rather, it misclassifies or understates these chemicals' hazards, asserts that existing regulations are sufficient even when they are quite old or do not cover identified exposures, and naively assumes that children will not be as exposed as adults to consumer products used in the home unless they are intended for their use.  Finally, this case demonstrates that manufacturers are not reporting to EPA even readily available information on their chemicals' uses.  Read more »

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

In May 2008, the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA) submitted a petition to EPA requesting that it regulate nano-silver used in products as a pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).  The petition calls on EPA to take the following specific actions:

1. Classify nano-silver as a pesticide.
2. Determine that nano-silver is a new pesticide and require its registration as such.
3. Analyze the potential risks of nano-silver to human health and the environment.
4. Take enforcement actions against nano-silver-containing products being sold illegally without EPA approval under FIFRA. Read more »

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

Can nanoparticles get into our drinking water and if so, what's the harm?

Nanoparticles are being used in cosmetics and other personal care products with increasing frequency.  Carbon fullerenes, also known as buckyballs, have recently been touted as imparting age-defying antioxidant benefits when added to skin cream.  And there are some studies that seem to support these claims.  But even if such claimed benefits turn out to be true, this is by no means the end of the story.  Read more »

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

I have just finished reading yet another depressing/infuriating publication by the Woodrow Wilson Center's Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. The new report delineates the many limitations faced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in addressing nanotechnology health risks.  The law governing the CPSC has significant weaknesses that prevent it from meeting critical needs, such as constraints on the ability to collect data, require reporting of known hazards, order recalls and promulgate mandatory safety standards.

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Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

We often think of nanotechnology as the latest product of ultra-modern science, but humans did not invent the nanoscale. We were not even the first to use materials with nanoscale features: The gecko beat us to it by several million years. Even more impressive, this little reptile has managed to use nanoscale materials apparently without experiencing any ill effects. It remains to be seen if we will be able to do this.
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Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

Andrew Maynard, of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, recently blogged about an Australian study that documented an odd effect of sunscreens containing nanoscale titanium dioxide (TiO2).  The study was prompted by the observation that installers of metal roofs who used these sunscreens inadvertently transferred the product onto the roofs. In places where the workers’ skin had touched the painted metal surfaces, the paint showed accelerated weathering. Why?  Because the particular type of nanoscale TiO2 in the sunscreen (the anatase crystal form) is photoactive – when it absorbs UV light, it releases free radicals that speed up the oxidation of the underlying paint.

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Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

Ah, summer!  It’s a great time to be outdoors, enjoying the warm, sunny weather.  Before you go outside, be sure to grab your sunscreen, that essential product that protects against skin cancer and sun damage.  But which kind of sunscreen is best?  There is a mesmerizing array of sunscreen options, but for our purposes let’s limit the question to one:  Nano or not nano?

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 Scott Walsh, MBA, is a Project Manager.

Nanotechnology is a global phenomenon:  Organizations all over the world are working to develop and deploy nanotechnology applications.  Interest in minimizing the potential health, environmental and safety risks of nanotechnology is similarly global.  One of many indications:  Over the past year, EDF and DuPont's Nano Risk Framework  has been downloaded more than 3,000 times in nearly 100 countries. 

Recognizing the international interest in the Framework, EDF and DuPont have now made it available in three major languages: Mandarin, French, and Spanish. (The Framework's executive summary is also available in Portuguese.) These translations will allow organizations around the world to better understand and apply the Framework's guidance to assess, mitigate, and communicate about potential nanomaterial risks.

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