Nanotechnology Law by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

5.2.2.4 Publications: Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials

The OECD Environment Directorate is publishing a series of monographs covering all aspects of the work being undertaken. In 2010 a report came out giving the results of an exercise to find out and compare what assessment criteria had been devised for the handling of nanomaterials in laboratories.11 It compares existing published guidelines regarding the use of nanomaterials on a laboratory scale, including the manufacture and the use of products in industrial, institutional and commercial settings, since institutions as well as companies entering the nano-sector in all countries are producing and utilizing nanomaterials on that scale. As expected, a number of different strategies for assessment and implementation of protection measures have been developed in those areas. As might perhaps also have been anticipated, although there is a degree of consensus – as to use of the precautionary principle to minimize risk, for instance, and the use of vacuuming and wiping of surfaces by way of routine cleaning – the lack of large-scale data relating to exposure and risk meant that the guidelines reviewed embodied divergent opinions as to how occupational exposure to nanomaterials should be addressed. Some recommended that any new substances in laboratories, which are insufficiently examined for their properties including acute and chronic toxicity and physico-chemical characteristics, shall be treated as acutely toxic, caustic, chronically toxic, flammable, pyrophoric and explosive. Others support precautionary measures if the mass of the nanomaterial sample exceeds the milligram range but require nanomaterials below this mass to be regarded as potentially toxic if they are water insoluble and/or if the macroscopic material is classified as toxic. The majority of guidelines reviewed recommend the disposal of nanomaterials as hazardous or chemical waste.

The divergences continue with the issue of categorization, where at one end of the spectrum an assumption is made as to the equal potential toxicity of nanomaterials and at the other risk levels are to be defined by reference to the specific properties of the respective nanomaterial such as size, chemical composition and surface area. There is also a wide range of opinions as to what factors should be considered in a risk assessment, what respiratory protection is appropriate, what cleaning agents should be used and whether special storage arrangements for nanoparticles are needed.

In view of these incompatible opinions, it is clear that considerable work is needed before it will be possible to identify appropriate thresholds which can be used to draft regulations for all laboratories’ or other organizations’ handling of nanomaterials.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.