{"id":67,"date":"2009-04-02T11:21:14","date_gmt":"2009-04-02T19:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/nanotechnology\/2009\/04\/02\/reaching-for-nano\/"},"modified":"2024-02-12T11:00:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T16:00:41","slug":"reaching-for-nano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2009\/04\/02\/reaching-for-nano\/","title":{"rendered":"REACHing for nano"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.<\/em><\/p>\n

In a previous post<\/a>, I argued that the European Union’s REACH Regulation for chemicals goes a long way to address the regulatory needs for nanomaterials – despite the fact that REACH never mentions nano and was not developed with nano in mind.\u00a0 I also noted, however, that REACH will clearly need more than fine-tuning to ensure adequate nano oversight.\u00a0 Apparently at least some in the European Parliament agree.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Just this week, the Environment Committee of the European Parliament<\/a> approved a report calling for a nano-specific review and updating of REACH. \u00a0(See the amendments<\/a> that were adopted this week to the January draft report<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Most notable is the report’s call to extend the “no data, no market” cornerstone of REACH to nanomaterials – meaning that nanomaterials could not enter or remain on the market absent provision by their producers of at least basic information to assess their safety.<\/p>\n

The report also calls for the development under REACH of nano-specific definitions, testing and assessment protocols, and data requirements.\u00a0 And it argues for labeling of products containing nanomaterials.<\/p>\n

The report comes not long after the European Commission issued its own recommendations<\/a> for how to address nanomaterials under REACH.\u00a0 While the Commission noted numerous challenges – most notably, the dearth of safety data and the difficulty of applying current risk assessment methodology – it argued that REACH addresses the potential risks of nanomaterials “in principle.” \u00a0Looking at the same basic problems, the Parliament report reaches the opposite conclusion:\u00a0 that REACH cannot in its current form adequately address nanomaterials.<\/p>\n

Changes to REACH that the Parliament committee recommends include requiring:<\/p>\n