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VeilleNanos - Life cycle of nanomaterials and nano-enhanced products

Life cycle of nanomaterials and nano-enhanced products

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Consider the entire life cycle of nanomaterials and nano enhanced products

By the AVICENN team – Last updated May 2024

In order to not to repeat the mistakes of the past, it is necessary that industrialists, risk assessment and management authorities and researchers consider the entire life cycle of nanomaterials: from initial production, usage or consumption to destruction or recycling.

A comprehensive approach – social life cycle assessment (SLCA) – is being promoted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)1Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment, UNEP, 2009. It can be applied to nanomaterials and must be conducted prospectively, prior to commercialization – not in “firefighting mode” after health or environmental problems have arisen. This is a broader “benefit-risk” analysis than that commonly proposed by proponents of the traditional (and limited) risk assessment approach. In particular, it considers the following questions: “what benefits/risks, for whom, where, when?

At present, scientists have very limited knowledge of the types of nanomaterials that are incorporated into products currently on the market, and a fortiori of any degradation residues of nanomaterials released throughout the “life cycle” of these products; they also know little about their mobility and transformations in the environment or in the human body: many parameters come into play, such as the ageing of the nanomaterials2See for example Ageing influences the toxicity of two innovative nanofertilizers to the soil invertebrates Enchytraeus crypticus and Folsomia candida, C. Maleihro, Environmental Pollution, 350, Juin 2024, the degree of acidity or salinity of the water for example3On the influence of acidity on the physicochemical parameters of nanomaterials, see for example:
Fate of iron nanoparticles in the environment. Colloidal stability, chemical reactivity and impacts on plants Edwige Demangeat’s thesis, Geosciences Rennes UMR 6118, 2018
Natural acids in soil could protect rice from toxic nanoparticles, Science News, April 2015
.

In May 2019, Science for Environment Policy reports on the progress of a life cycle assessment method tailored to emerging technologies: the Lifecycle Screening of Emerging Technologies (LiSET). Will it be usable and used before the marketing of certain “nanos”? The question needs to be investigated.

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Any questions or comments? This information sheet compiled by AVICENN is intended to be completed and updated. Please feel free to contribute.

Upcoming Nano Agenda

11
Juin
2025
Risk assessment of nanomaterials and materials containing small/nanoparticles in the food and feed chain (EFSA, Brussels & online)
On line
Workshop
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  • Workshop on risk assessment of nanomaterials and materials containing small/nanoparticles in the food and feed chain
  • Organizer: EFSA
  • This workshop will present the proposed strategy for updating the EFSA Nano Guidance documents, aiming to merge them into a single guidance on risk assessment for nanomaterials and small/nanoparticles in the food and feed chain.
    The event will provide an open platform for discussing key issues, approaches to addressing them, and ensuring the guidance reflects the latest scientific knowledge. Stakeholders will be encouraged to share experiences and engage with regulators, helping shape the updated guidance.
  • Website: www.efsa.europa.eu/en/events/workshop-risk-assessment-nanomaterials-and-materials-containing-smallnanoparticles-food-and

17
Juin
2025
Nanocharacterization for the study of materials and structures (CEA, Grenoble – France)
Grenoble
Training
  • This course is designed for engineers or senior technicians working in the field of micro and nanotechnologies in public or industrial laboratories, who need to solve problems related to controlling the properties of materials at the nanometric scale during their development and/or integration into devices.
  • Organizers: INSTN Grenoble (CEA)
  • June 17 to July 3, 2025
  • Website: https: //instn.cea.fr/formation/nano-caracterisation-pour-letude-des-materiaux-et-structures
19
Juin
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Advancing Safety & Sustainability Assessments of Advanced Materials (Horizon Europe, Paris)
Paris
Conference

This sheet was originally created in November 2014


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