Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Issues New Report on Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on February 24th issued an update to its series of reports on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials.  The report “Current Developments/Activities on the Safety of Manufactured Nanomaterials,  Tour de Table at the 6th Meeting of the Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials” is authored by personnel from the Environment Directorate, the Joint Meeting of the Chemicals Committee and the Working Party on Chemicals, Pesticides and Biotechnology and is based on meetings that took place in France from October 28-30, 2009.

In each meeting of the Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN), the delegations have an opportunity to provide their developments on the safety of manufactured nanomaterials, so called “Tour de Table.” An earlier version of this document was originally provided to the 5th meeting held 4-6 March 2009 in Paris, France. This document includes an update of the status of the work of the WPMN (Section I) and compiles information provided by member countries and other delegations on current developments on the safety of manufactured nanomaterials (section II) in their countries or organisations. 

There are also written reports on current activities related to nanotechnologies/ nanomaterials in other International Organisations including the International Organization for Standardization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization (section III). This is intended to provide delegations and other stakeholders with a “snapshot” of information on activities related to manufactured nanomaterials, as well as other activities on nanotechnologies, at the national and international level. This “snapshot” was current at the time of the 6th meeting of the WPMN (October 2009).

The Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) was established in 2006 at a time when nanomaterials were becoming more common in products. Its work is intended to ensure that human health and environmental safety aspects of nanotechnology are adequately addressed. A major focus of its work is to ensure that existing instruments (for example, the OECD Test Guidelines) can be reliably applied to nanomaterials. Accordingly, it seeks to promote international co-operation in addressing the human health and environmental safety implications of manufactured nanomaterials.

An important recent element has been OECD’s response to the financial and economic crisis. A key element of this response is to foster “green” and innovation-led growth. For its part, the WPMN has aligned its program of work to support the overall mission and commitment of the organization and its members. As such, it works closely with other international efforts.

In addition to delegates from OECD member countries and the European Commission, the WPMN work benefits from the participation of representatives from China, Thailand, South Africa, the Russian Federation, Singapore, as well as other organisations such as FAO, UNITAR, ISO (TC 229), BIAC and Environmental NGOs.

Detailed information about the sponsorship program can be available at: www.oecd.org/env/nanosafety.