Toxicologists Recommend Changes to OECD Guidelines to Include Nanoparticles

Expert toxicologists from the OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) have issued a report recommending that OECD guidelines be updated to better address the specific properties of manufactured nanomaterials.  The experts - about 50 scientists - met in October 2011 in the Netherlands specifically for "Inhalation Toxicity Testing for Nanomaterials" so their main focus was on inhalation toxicity.

The result was the report being issued now by OECD, which can be seen here.

The objective of the changes recommended to the inhalation toxicity guidelines was to better detect potential for harm from inhaled nanoparticles, specifically those engineered to be of nanoparticle size. Ideally the changes with assist researchers and regulators in understanding the unique properties created by the very small sizes of nanomaterials. These small sizes are especially important for inhalation exposures as they may allow materials to get further down into the lungs and possibly even cross the tissues into the bloodstream.