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German MEP to head up key committee

German MEP Jo Leinen (S-D) has been elected to chair the European Parliament committee which will have a central role in nanotechnology governance over the next five-year term.

The Committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety produced a controversial report earlier this year which was backed by a full sitting of the Parliament. That report, which sought to apply the principle of ‘no data, no market' to regulating nanotechnology was written by Swedish Green MEP Carl Schlyter. Mr Schlyter is one of four vice-chairs of the newly elected committee. The others are French liberal, Corinne Lepage; Polish conservative Boguslaw Sonik; and Danish social democrat, Dan Jorgensen.

The Social and Economical Council of the Netherlands presents advisory report - Nanoparticles in the Workplace: Health and Safety Precautions

The advisory report “Nanoparticles in the Workplace: Health and Safety Precautions” is the response of the Working Conditions Committee of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER) to the request for advice sent to the Council by the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW) on 5 September 2008.

The Committee's central concern is with the health and safety of employees who are required to work with nanoparticles in the workplace. The advisory report concerns how to deal with the uncertainties related to the risks associated with nanotechnology, in particular with persistent synthetic nanoparticles, in an occupational environment.

Download the full advisory report here: http://www.ser.nl/en/Publications/Publications/2009/2009_01.aspx.

Leaders of Portugal and Spain open new international nanotechnology laboratory

The leaders of Portugal and Spain officially opened the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) hoping to turn the new research facility into one of the world's leading laboratories in the field.   

Spain 's King Juan Carlos, who attended the ceremony, said: “Especially during the serious economic crisis, it is important to assure our institutions and societies that our progress and well-being depend on more innovation and education.”

The INL has subsequently launched an extensive recruiting campaign to attract research leaders and postdoctoral scientists with experience in its four main research areas :

• Nanomedicine
• Environmental monitoring, security and food quality control
• Nanoelectronics
• Nanomachines and nanomanipulation

For more information, see: http://www.iinl.org/news-ampliada.php?n=2

OSHA publishes literature review on workplace expose to nanoparticles

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (OSHA) has published a new document Literature Review - Workplace exposure to nanoparticles which reviews the most recent publications on nanoparticles and focuses on the possible adverse health effects of workplace exposure.

The report presents the regulatory background and activities taken to manage this emerging area of risk.

Download the full literature review at: http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/literature_reviews/workplace_exposure_to_nanoparticles

EuroNanoForum 2009 - Recommendations on nanotechnology governance

The 4-day EuroNanoForum 2009, organized in Prague Congress Centre from 2 - 5 June 2009 as an event of the Czech Presidency, held a session on nanotechnology governance which included the following recommendations:

•  To respond to wider interdependent concerns expressed by industry, various ETPs and European policies (e.g. Research and Development, Health, Environment, Consumer protection, Competitiveness), the need for more effective Europe-wide cooperation on horizontal nanotechnology issues (standardisation ; education; ethical, social and legal aspects; communication and outreach)

•  Further dialogue and joint actions between governments, funding agencies, industries and research entities are essential to achieve a prosperous sustainable economy in Europe . Also vital is a dialogue with society at large, in order to overcome misconceptions created by ill-informed media comment.

•  In order to support the continuation of nanotechnology's industrialisation, encouragement for the development of new products and services, and to respond to broad public demand for safe and responsible research, wider international cooperation and greater financial support is needed in the fields of safety, health and environmental protection.

•  Market success of nanotechnology applications depends very much on the establishment of corresponding standards, and continuous development of measurement and testing methods.

Full Conference Proceedings available at: http://www.czech-in.org/euronano/website/tiskoviny/ENF2009-Proceedings.pdf