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FDA Nanotechnology Task Force takes positive step forward
July 26, 2007Today's report from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Nanotechnology Task Force is an important and positive step forward in the agency's effort to tackle the new scientific and regulatory challenges posed by nanotechnology.
The Task Force is clear and candid in acknowledging the pervasive potential of nanotechnology to affect virtually every product category FDA regulates-from pharmaceuticals and devices to cosmetics and food supplements- and in calling for a wide range of FDA actions to prepare for and execute its oversight role. While available evidence does not suggest that all materials with nanoscale dimensions will be hazardous, the Task Force correctly concludes that the agency needs new safety assessment tools, greater nano-specific staff expertise and more risk research to assess the likelihood of long-term health effects from exposure to specific nanoscale materials.
The report also recognizes the need to gather more information from industry, especially to answer safety-related questions, and to provide companies with clear guidance so there can be reasonable and safe pathways to market for the many potential applications of nanotechnology under FDA's jurisdiction.
Equally important, the report signals FDA's commitment to a transparent public process for developing its regulatory policies. Public participation will be key both to developing good policies and winning public confidence in the agency's oversight of nanotechnology, and I applaud the Task Force and FDA for taking this approach.
Finally, the extensive nanotechnology "to do" list outlined in the report should remind Congress, as it considers FDA's 2008 budget, that it needs to fix the problem of FDA's chronic underfunding. The agency urgently needs more resources to do what needs to be done on nanotechnology-and do it urgently-along with the many other challenges the agency faces.
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
Equally important, the report signals FDA's commitment to a transparent public process for developing its regulatory policies. Public participation will be key both to developing good policies and winning public confidence in the agency's oversight of nanotechnology, and I applaud the Task Force and FDA for taking this approach.
Finally, the extensive nanotechnology "to do" list outlined in the report should remind Congress, as it considers FDA's 2008 budget, that it needs to fix the problem of FDA's chronic underfunding. The agency urgently needs more resources to do what needs to be done on nanotechnology-and do it urgently-along with the many other challenges the agency faces.
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
Nanotechnology Current Events and Nanotechnology News RSSFindings show nanomedicine promising for treating spinal cord injuries
Researchers at Purdue University have discovered a new approach for repairing damaged nerve fibers in spinal cord injuries using nano-spheres that could be injected into the blood shortly after an accident.
Magnetic nanoparticles to simultaneously diagnose, monitor and treat
Whether it's magnetic nanoparticles (mNPs) giving an army of 'therapeutically armed' white blood cells direction to invade a deadly tumour's territory, or the use of mNPs to target specific nerve channels and induce nerve-led behaviour (such as the life-dependant thumping of our hearts), mNPs have come a long way in the past decade.
Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processing
Rice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics.
An exquisite container
In campy old movies, Lucretia Borgia swans around emptying powder from her ring into wine glasses carelessly left unattended. The poison ring is usually a confection of gold filigree holding a cabochon or faceted gemstone that can be broken to empty the ring's contents. It is invariably enormous - so large it is rather odd nobody seems to notice it.
University of Cincinnati researchers create all-electric spintronics
A multidisciplinary team of UC researchers is the first to find an innovative and novel way to control an electron's spin orientation using purely electrical means.
Nanowire biocompatibility in the brain: So far so good
The biological safety of nanotechnology, in other words, how the body reacts to nanoparticles, is a hot topic. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have managed for the first time to carry out successful experiments involving the injection of so-called 'nanowires.'
Synthetic cells shed biological insights while delivering battery power
Trying to understand the complex workings of a biological cell by teasing out the function of every molecule within it is a daunting task.
Berkeley Researchers Find New Route to Nano Self-Assembly
If the promise of nanotechnology is to be fulfilled, nanoparticles will have to be able to make something of themselves. An important advance towards this goal has been achieved by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) who have found a simple and yet powerfully robust way to induce nanoparticles to assemble themselves into complex arrays.
Harvard scientists bend nanowires into 2-D and 3-D structures
Taking nanomaterials to a new level of structural complexity, scientists have determined how to introduce kinks into arrow-straight nanowires, transforming them into zigzagging two- and three-dimensional structures with correspondingly advanced functions.
Advance in 'nano-agriculture': Tiny stuff has huge effect on plant growth
With potential adverse health and environmental effects often in the news about nanotechnology, scientists in Arkansas are reporting that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) could have beneficial effects in agriculture.
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