Health

Health - Overview - Standards - Text Web Content

This section gives an overview of standards in the field of health published by the international standardisation bodies from 2017–2020. Fourteen health standards were published by ISO (8), CEN (4) and OECD (2). Most standards addressed the issue of health and safety when being exposed to nanomaterials. Set up and measurements in human health toxicity studies of nanomaterials were covered in most standards issued between 2017–2020. Many standards addressed two routes – inhalation and dermal exposure.

Most standards published in 2017–2020 were developed by ISO. Several technical committees contributed to nanomaterial standardisation work in the health field:

  • ISO/TC 229 – Nanotechnologies.
  • ISO/TC 194 – Biological and clinical evaluation of medical devices.
  • ISO/TC 146 – Air quality.

Between 2017–2020, the ISO standards mostly focused on the exposure to nanomaterials. However, two standards addressed nanomaterials in medical applications – medical devices and biosensing. The following health standards were published by ISO in the period under analysis:

All standards published by CEN focused on the inhalation and dermal exposure to nanomaterials. Interestingly, one standard was specifically addressing the exposure to nanomaterials in textile products. The following committees contributed to developing these standards:

  • CEN/TC 352 – Nanotechnologies.
  • CEN/TC 248 – Textiles and textile products.
  • CEN/TC 137 – Assessment of workplace exposure to chemical and biological agents.
  • CEN published the following health standards from 2017–2020:

In 2017–2020, OECD published two test guidelines for human toxicity studies of nanomaterials addressing one exposure rout – inhalation: