Joint JRC Nano Event and 2nd ENPRA Stakeholders Workshop

The Joint JRC Nano event and 2nd ENPRA Stakeholders Workshop was organised by the IHCP Nanobiosciences unit with the support of the JRC Enlargement and Integration programme, in collaboration with the FP7 project ENPRA (Engineered NanoParticle Risk Assessment).

when: 10-12 May 2011

where: Hotel Garden Inn - Somma Lombardo (Varese, Italy)

The workshop (by invitation only) involved about 90 participants, from industry, government, NGOs, and academia. These included scientists of FP6 and FP7 projects, chemical and nanomaterials industry, representatives of EU Member State Competent Authorities, representatives of EU Associate and Candidate Countries, environment and workers' protection organisations, CAIQ (Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine), US-EPA, ECHA, EFSA, and representatives of the European Commission.

During two days and a half, 34 experts from 26 different organisations informed the participants on the latest scientific progress in the field of nanoparticles risk assessment produced within the ENPRA project and present and discuss recent developments concerning legislation in the EU and beyond. The event gathered relevant information from invited experts and projects for use in the regulatory context and provided networking opportunities among the attendees.

NEW! (09.06.2011): Twenty-eight presentations now available on-line:  Program & Presentations

NEW! (30.01.2012) Summary Report now available!

Background

Nanomaterials promise benefits in a wide spectrum of fields, including environmental protection, affordable energy, waste treatment, medicine (especially in diagnostic and therapeutic tools), information technology and applications related to security. Moreover, nanomaterials have the potential to impact on many aspects of food and agricultural systems. As such, they are expected to provide many opportunities for economic growth. However, they raise as well safety, regulatory, social, and ethical issues, which should be addressed before any associated problems materialise.

Although current EU regulations for assessing the safety of chemicals, both for humans and the environment, apply to nanomaterials, there is only limited guidance on how to practically apply these provisions to nanomaterials. On the other side, many knowledge gaps still exist regarding nanomaterials impacts on human health and the environment.

Key issues are to get a better understanding of the interaction of nanomaterials with living organisms and to ensure an appropriate safety assessment. These depend strongly on further research and reliable scientific data. The JRC contributes to several projects to establish a scientific basis and to provide advice aiming at a sustainable and safe production and use of nanomaterials through improved risk assessment and management.

In this rapidly growing field, another main issue is to ensure that scientific results are timely injected into the regulatory process. For this, it is crucial to engage regulators and other stakeholders in a dialogue with scientists where recent regulatory developments and needs are confronted with up-to-date scientific knowledge.

More on JRC-IHCP activities in this field: JRC-IHCP, Nanotechnology

Further details

• Aims of the workshop
• Participation
•  Final Programme (Updated 04.05.2011)
  
• Workshop venue, travel & accomodation
• General Information
• Contact us

Photo credits:
Nanodomes © European Union
Nanotoxicology study: In vitro test log book © European Union 2010