INL involved in EC´s coordinated approach to promote the safety of nanomaterials

The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) participates in the European Commission’s NANoREG project on the safety of nanomaterials.

At INL, the goal of this four-year project is to establish and test specific measurement and characterization methods and offer a wide set of well‐characterized manufactured or engineered nanomaterials (MNMs).

The industrial use of nanomaterials has grown significantly, therefore more knowledge about the health and environmental hazard impacts of nanomaterials is necessary. Interest in the use of nanomaterials is considerable, as they can be used to improve product characteristics; for example, nanoparticles help make a surface self-cleaning through a hydrophobic coat of paint; but the safety of these nanoparticles raises questions.

The fast development of nanomaterials and their presence on the market make it necessary to evaluate their environmental and health impacts. The project aims at developing guidelines for safe usage, risk management and safety instructions while assessing the need for new legislation. NANoREG is a FP7 project aiming to deliver the answers needed by regulators and legislators on EHS by linking them to scientific evaluation of data and test methods.

The NANoREG consortium joins governmental authorities, research institutes and companies from 14 European countries. With this project, we will get not only better coordination of the EU research agenda regarding the reduction of risk of nanomaterials, but improved or more focused interaction between industry, regulators and the scientific community.

The NANoREG project, to be implemented in the years 2013 to 2016, will bring together the activities of national authorities responsible for worker protection, public health and environment and create the basis for common approaches, mutually acceptable datasets and risk management practices.

NANoREG, with a total budget of 48,7 million Euro, is coordinated by the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment of the Netherlands.