OECD issues report on the safety of nanotechnology

As I have reported in the past, there is a lot of interest by various regulatory and government bodies in trying to come up with the best way to ensure the safety of nanoscale materials in the market place.  The newest is a report issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The report is available as a PDF document here.

Specifically the document "provides information on current/planned activities related to the safety of manufactured nanomaterials in OECD member and non-member countries that attended at the 7th meeting of OECD’s Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (Paris France, 7-9 July 2010)."  It also includes "written reports on relevant current activities in other International Organisations such as the ISO and the WHO."

The WHO (not the rock group) is the World Health Organization.  ISO is the International Organization for Standardization. Also contributing is the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO; governments and scientists just love acronyms).

OECD's activities on nanotechnology are coordinated through "The Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials," which "brings together more than 100 experts from governments and other stakeholders"

According to the OECD report "The Working Party is implementing its work through specific projects to further develop appropriate methods and strategies to help ensure human health and environmental safety:

• OECD Database on Manufactured Nanomaterials to Inform and Analyse EHS Research Activities;

• Safety Testing of a Representative Set of Manufactured Nanomaterials;

• Manufactured Nanomaterials and Test Guidelines;

• Co-operation on Voluntary Schemes and Regulatory Programmes;

• Co-operation on Risk Assessment;

• The role of Alternative Methods in Nanotoxicology;

• Exposure Measurement and Exposure Mitigation; and

• Co-operation on Environmentally Sustainable Use of Nanotechnology