New OECD Test Guideline on Nanomaterials: University of Vienna Plays a Key Role
The OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development) has published a new test guideline for the risk assessment of nanomaterials designed to determine the solubility and dissolution rate of nanomaterials under realistic environmental conditions.
Frauenhofer IME
The OECD has published a new test guideline designed to determine the solubility and dissolution rate of nanomaterials under realistic environmental conditions. The test guideline, which has now been adopted, was developed by Frank von der Kammer and his team at the Department of Environmental Geosciences at the University of Vienna on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency and with funding from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. Under the leadership of the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME the test guideline was also validated in an international interlaboratory comparison test.
Context and significance
Nanomaterials behave differently in the environment than conventional chemicals. Whether they remain finely dispersed in water, dissolve rapidly or undergo chemical changes determines their fate in soils, water bodies and organisms – and thus the potential risks. The new standard method provides reliable data on dissolution rates and closes a key gap in the OECD methods, which were previously designed primarily for organic chemicals.
This data is also key to the implementation of the EU chemicals regulation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). REACH specifies what information manufacturers and importers must provide to demonstrate the safety of substances, including nanomaterials. ‘With this newly available, internationally harmonised approach, authorities, industry and the research community now have a practical tool to determine whether a nanomaterial-specific environmental assessment is required and how safe applications can be designed,’ explains ECH Co-Director Thilo Hofmann from the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Sciences, EDGE, University of Vienna.
More Information
- The new Test Guideline No. 322 can be found on the OECD’s website for guidelines on the testing of chemicals: Test No. 322 - Determination of the Solubility and Dissolution Rate of Nanomaterials for Environmental Fate Assessment.
- Read the project report for further information