Nanomaterials to be specified in the EU Technical Guidance for chemicals

Thursday 12 April 2007

The Commission has today launched a public consultation of the preliminary opinion of the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) on the appropriateness of the EU Technical Guidance Documents for chemicals in regard to nanomaterials. The online consultation, which will run until 23 May 2007, aims to gather feedback on proposed modifications to the Technical Guidance Documents and on needs for further research and development.

The report concludes, similarly to the earlier SCENIHR opinion of March 2006 , that while the current methodologies are generally likely to be able to identify the hazards associated with the use of nanoparticles, modifications for the existing guidance will be necessary. No common rules exist yet for the toxicology of nanomaterials. Therefore, the evaluation of nanoparticle formulations should be carried out on a case by case basis. Moreover, special characteristics of nanomaterials - potentially differing considerably from the conventional chemicals - have to be appropriately characterised. Furthermore, their toxicological behaviour and effects on health and the environment need to be assessed properly.

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