US EPA publishes new ruling on siloxane modified nanoparticles
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register a notice entitled ‘Significant New Use Rules on Certain Chemical Substances’ for 56 chemical substances, including the following manufactured nanomaterials:
- Siloxane modified silica nanoparticles (generic)
- Siloxane modified alumina nanoparticles (generic)
In both cases, the EPA quotes the following ‘significant new uses’:
- use without impervious gloves or a NIOSH-approved respirator with an APF of at least 10;
- the manufacture, process, or use of the nanoparticle as a powder;
- or uses of the nanoparticle that are ‘different’ than the uses described in the PMN that the original manufacture submitted to EPA in order to receive permission to manufacture the chemical when it was still considered a ‘new’ chemical.
The Federal Register furthermore notes that ‘the effective date of this rule is January 5, 2009 without further notice, unless EPA receives written adverse or critical comments, or notice of intent to submit adverse or critical comments before December 5, 2008.’
Follow this link to download the complete Federal Register notice.
Registered NIA Members can download additional legal comment and background information on the EPA ruling from the ‘Members only’-area on the NIA website (by following the link to 'Topical Briefings').
Related Links
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register a notice entitled ‘Toxic Substances Control Act Inventory Status of Carbon Nanotubes’, giving notice of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requirements potentially applicable to carbon nanotubes (CNTs). (31st October 2008)
The European Commission published a regulation (COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 987/2008). This regulation follows the EC’s decision to delete both carbon (CAS No. 7440-44-0) and graphite (CAS No. 7782-42-5) from ANNEX IV of REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals), which identifies substances that are exempted from the registration, evaluation and downstream user provisions of REACH on the basis that sufficient information is known about these substances so that they are considered to cause minimum risk because of their intrinsic properties (Article 2(7)(a)). (9th October 2008)