The term nano is a measurement of size. A nanometre (nm) is a millionth of a millimetre. By way of illustration, a nanometer is about 1/50,000th the width of a human hair, and a sheet of normal office paper is about 100,000nm thick. A nanomaterial or a nanoparticle is usually considered to be a structure between 0.1 and 100nm (1/1,000,000 mm). At the nanoscale, the physical, chemical, and biological properties of materials differ in fundamental and often valuable ways from the properties of individual atoms and molecules or bulk matter.

Research and development in nanotechnologies is directed toward understanding and creating improved materials, devices, and systems that exploit these new properties. Such properties have been found to be very useful for an increasing number of commercial applications, for example: protective coatings; light-weight materials; self-cleaning clothing, to name but a few.

But different properties mean that nanomaterials are differed from conventional molecules with respect to human health and environmental safety. The traditional testing and assessment methods used to determine the safety of traditional chemicals are not necessarily (fully) applicable to nanomaterials. There should be a responsible and co-ordinated approach to ensure that potential safety issues are being addressed at the same time as the technology is developing.

To evaluate the member countries’ regulatory challenges as regards safety on nanomaterials, OECD’s Chemicals Committee (CC) decided to consider them in some detail. The CC held a Workshop to address these issues further. The CC discussed the conclusions and recommended the establishment of a Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN).  This group will focus on the implications for the safety for human health and the environment of the use of nanomaterials (focussing on testing and assessment methods). The WPMN was established on 14th September 2006.

More