Nanopinions
In this section, the EUON invites views from different contributors ranging from policy-makers and authorities to industry and civil society on their work and priorities related to nanomaterials on the EU market.
17 January 2023
ECHA through the EU Observatory for NMs (EUON) commissioned a study regarding the current market (including the European Economic Area countries (EEA) and Switzerland), which was awarded to NovaMechanics Ltd. from Cyprus. The purpose of the study was to provide EUON, its stakeholders, and the public with reliable and transparent information regarding the NMs that are currently available in the internal market, the main areas of application, and the market operators (producers, major traders, downstream users). The results of this study will feed into the EUON’s activities to increase transparency and understanding on how the NMs market is evolving and fill data gaps on the EU market information. The study included a 5-year projection of the EU market, with 2020 as the baseline year, but was completed prior to the ongoing events in Ukraine and the resulting crisis.
20 December 2022
The emergence of nanotechnology opened new challenges in occupational health and safety. Over the last 15 years scientists have paid attention to the development of new instruments capable of measuring personal exposure to nanosize particles. New frameworks, methodologies and standards to assess and control exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in the workplace have been published. A large effort has also gone to establish grouping approaches according to how they exert their toxicity and towards the development of occupational exposure limits (OELs). This task has been difficult due to the high diversity of ENMs, the uncertainties on their mode of action and on selecting the metric that best represents the end point.
08 November 2022
Historical stone surfaces are magnificent but undergo damage with time. Their aging and decay are inevitable when exposed to the outside environment. This is because the often porous architectural stone surfaces are prone to water-induced weathering, which is the process of being worn by long exposure to the atmosphere. Rainwater that percolates within the stone can cause chemical weathering, mainly mineral dissolution and adverse reprecipitation, as well as mechanical weathering when the pore water undergoes freezing and thawing cycles. These processes are slow but in the long term, they induce severe and irreversible changes that ultimately lead to grain disintegration and stone crumbling.
12 October 2022
With ever increasing technological advances, the demand for smart materials is always on the upswing. We define smart materials as those which can exhibit shape and appearance changes or self-heal upon wear and tear or damage. Importantly, if such materials can be made reusable and recyclable, this can lead to sustainability without losing the technological edge. For example, smart textiles that can change their color based on the temperature or windows that selectively allow light based on the environment.
13 September 2022
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is literally the brain’s gatekeeper. It is a biological boundary that protects the brain from being exposed to things it shouldn’t. Sitting between the blood stream and the brain, the BBB serves the twin role of providing the brain with the things it needs, nutrients and oxygen, whilst also forming a barrier to things it doesn’t, such as pathogens and toxins. The BBB has evolved to “recognise” all forms of chemicals and particles, including nanoparticles (particles in the size range between 1 and 100nm), since these have been present on Earth before the emergence of life.
28 June 2022
The early 2000s witnessed an explosive growth of research investments into nanotechnology. This new technology promised enhanced products and new nanomaterials with improved performance, but also raised public concerns about how safe they were for the environment, workers and consumers. Initially, the main research efforts were directed at identifying the hazards presented by nanomaterials, while investigations into the specifics of exposure risks lagged behind. Given the growing variety of exposure situations to nanomaterials of concern, a critical need for internationally-accepted exposure models for use in nanomaterial risk assessments became broadly recognized (OECD 2017). This need was addressed by recently completed international projects described in this article and conducted under the umbrella of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
31 May 2022
Detecting cancer at early stages when interventions are possible is important to improve survival. However, screening tests for many cancer types do not meet such needs due to the low sensitivity1 and specificity2, meaning that some patients will receive a false positive result in the screening even if they do not have cancer, while others will receive a false negative result despite having cancer. In addition, many cancer types even do not have any means for early detection.
24 February 2022
Referring to a ‘Nanopinion’ entitled “Nanoplastics – it’s a name game” (https://euon.echa.europa.eu/nanopinion/-/blogs/-nanoplastics-game), microplastics and nanoplastics are becoming increasingly familiar terms when discussing plastics pollution. Nanoplastics are solid particles of synthetic or heavily modified natural polymers with sizes between 1 nm and 1000 nm, although some authors have suggested an upper limit of 100 nm, as for engineered nanomaterials. Indeed, the upper limit is arbitrary and is more important to set limits for regulation of primary nanoplastics production.
18 January 2022
During the last few years, there has been a continuous and steady increase in the industrial translation of graphene and various related 2D materials. Many different industries and application areas have moved forward from the evaluation stage of graphene materials to the phase of adoption and industrial development, closer to large-scale product manufacturing. Some examples include fabrics, batteries, metal alloys, concrete and other construction materials, and different types of composites used in automotive and aerospace engineering.
17 December 2021
Project ACEnano, acronym for “Analytical and Characterisation Excellence in nanomaterial risk assessment: A tiered approach”, is a Horizon2020 project which recently completed its 4.5-year course. The project partnership comprised of 28 members and included universities, research institutes, government bodies, multinational companies and SMEs, from across Europe but also South Korea and China.
04 November 2021
A few years ago, nanomaterials were curiosities from scientific laboratories. By now the ability to control the structure of materials at the nanoscale has been translated into numerous applications and nanomaterials have entered our daily lives. They are appearing in raw materials for new products that are lighter, more stable or have new properties.
30 August 2021
Daniel Ruiz-Molina got his PhD in Chemistry with a thesis on polyradical dendrimers at the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) under Prof. Jaume Veciana’s tutorship. Then, he obtained a postdoctoral position at the University of California San Diego (USA), where he spent three years working on single molecule magnets and molecular switches.
15 July 2021
The NMEG is coordinated and hosted by ECHA. Participants include experts from EU Member State competent authorities, the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority, industry, NGOs and other stakeholder organisations. The group's current mandate is to provide informal and non-binding scientific and technical advice on questions related to nanomaterials or nanoforms of substances in the frame of the implementation of REACH, CLP, BPR, EUON and other issues of relevance to ECHA’s work.
31 May 2021
Chiara Venturini joined the Nanotechnology Industry Association (NIA) as Director General in 2021. She has been working in Brussels-based membership associations for over a decade, focusing on environmental issues and chemicals management for sectors as diverse as fuel cells and hydrogen, ceramics, digital and ICT. Her expertise also includes sustainability, supply chain management, and trade.
29 April 2021
Fazel A. Monikh did his PhD at the Department of Environmental Geoscience, University of Vienna, Austria, where he focused on developing methods for extraction, characterization, and quantification of nanomaterials (NMs) in complex matrices e.g. consumer products and environmental samples.
19 March 2021
Bennard van Ravenzwaay, Senior Vice President for experimental toxicology and ecology at BASF and a professor for toxicology;
Robert Landsiedel, Vice President at the experimental toxicology and ecology department of BASF and associate professor (Privatdozent) for pharmacology and toxicology at the Free University of Berlin;
Wendel Wohlleben, Senior Principal Scientist at BASF, Dept. of Material Physics, second affiliation with Dept. of Experimental Toxicology and Ecology;
Simon Rafael Luederwald, lab team leader for experimental ecology at BASF;
Olivier de Matos, Secretary General of ECETOC
Robert Landsiedel, Vice President at the experimental toxicology and ecology department of BASF and associate professor (Privatdozent) for pharmacology and toxicology at the Free University of Berlin;
Wendel Wohlleben, Senior Principal Scientist at BASF, Dept. of Material Physics, second affiliation with Dept. of Experimental Toxicology and Ecology;
Simon Rafael Luederwald, lab team leader for experimental ecology at BASF;
Olivier de Matos, Secretary General of ECETOC
19 February 2021
Dr Dorte Rasmussen been working on the exposure and risk assessment of chemicals at DHI A/S for almost 25 years.She is a chemical engineer by education and hold a PhD in applied thermodynamics from the Danish Technical University.
05 October 2020
Dr Monita Sharma, Nanotoxicology Specialist and Dr Andreas Stucki, Advisor - Peta International Science Consortium Ltd. (PISC)
14 September 2020
Andrew Nelson, Professor in Nanotoxicology and EU Project Coordinator (SABYDOMA & HISENTS) - University of Leeds
31 August 2020
Dr Dorota Napierska, Chemicals Policy and Project Officer - Health Care Without Harm Europe
23 July 2020
Dr Blaise Tardy, Research Fellow, bio-based colloids and materials research group - Aalto University
01 July 2020
Dr Sabine Lindner, Consumer and Environmental Affairs - PlasticsEurope Deutschland e.V.
12 June 2020
Dr Heike Liewald, Managing Director - Eurocolour e.V. and Giuliana Beck, Advisor - German association of producers of pigments and fillers
05 May 2020
Olivier de Matos, Secretary General, European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology (ECETOC)
07 April 2020
Anna Lennquist, Senior Toxicologist, International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec)
03 March 2020
Claire Skentelbery, Director General, Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA)
10 December 2019
Carlos-Eduardo Lima Da Cunha, Policy Officer, European Commission
12 November 2019
Elke Schneider, European Agency for Health and Safety at Work (EU-OSHA)
07 October 2019
Lise Bitsch, Governing Nanotechnologies through societal engagement (GoNano)
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the ‘EUON - Nanopinion’ do not necessarily represent the views of ECHA, and ECHA does not support or endorse any content by third party contributors on this site. You acknowledge and agree that by viewing such third party content, you are doing so at your own discretion and risk, including any reliance on the accuracy and completeness of that content. ECHA accepts no responsibility and liability in respect of the third party content.