On May 31, 2021, the European Union (EU) Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON) published a Nanopinion entitled “Updating our language: why we should not paint all nanoforms with the same brush” by Chiara Venturini, Director General of the Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA). Venturini reviews how the EU’s language has evolved. In 2011, the European Commission (EC) adopted a definition that describes a nanomaterial as a material at the nanoscale. In 2020, the EC amended Annex II of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation and introduced the use of the term “nanoform” in safety data sheets (SDS). Venturini states that describing a specific “nanomaterial” only provides information about its elemental composition and size, but at the nanoscale, “that substance can adopt more than one different form (i.e. a nanoform), and, most importantly, those nanoforms can behave differently in terms of their physico-chemical properties.” According to Venturini, as explained in a recent NIA position paper, the EC’s transition from nanomaterial to nanoform “is a welcome development: the increased granularity in the information collected on nanoforms supports safe manufacturing; helps build up the knowledge base to identify the safest and most efficient forms of a substance to be used in products; and continuously improves the transparency required to gain end-user trust and foster confidence in nanotechnology.” Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. is a proud NIA member.

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