The NanoRelease Project
The 01/23/2012 issue of Bloomberg BNA's Daily Environment Report carried an article, "Government, Industry, Advocacy Groups Work on Carbon Nanotube Release Measures " that focused on the work of the NanoRelease Project. A noted on its website, the NanoRelease Project's purpose is to "foster the safe development of nanomaterials by supporting development of methods to understand the release of nanomaterials used in products".
Objectives:
Provide focus to broad policy debates by working through scenarios under which specific engineered nanomaterials might be released from products;
Examine the full life cycle of products that might act to release nanomaterials;
Catalogue and disseminate published and unpublished data and methods (that meet minimum criteria) used to evaluate release scenarios;
Develop “state of the science” reports about release measurement for the specific material types chosen that describe what is known and what research gaps exist; and
Enable improvements, standardization, and widespread use of methods by carrying out tests using reference nanomaterial-matrix and positive controls in a “round robin” or similar approach.
The NanoRelease Project is overseen by a Steering Committee composed of "Government officials, chemical manufacturers, and representives of labor and consumer advocacy groups". Among the members of the Steering Committee is John Monica, Jr, a partner in the DC office of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP .
As the article notes, Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) are currently incorporated into various consumer products and numerous new applications and products containing CNTs are expected in the future", products that would benefit from having CNTs as part of their matrix by being stronger, lighter, and more energy efficient, ranging from the PC, laptop, or notebook you're reading this on to tennis racquets. As CNTs become more widely used in consumer products it is necessary to develop the analytical tools and procedures to measure potential negative effects on the environment and human health from CNTs released as part of the manufacturing process and use of products, tools and procedures that would ultimately lead to the development of safe consumer products.
More information on the NanoRelease Project is available on its website.
