In an article published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature Nanotechnology, Associate Professor Steffen Foss Hansen from DTU Environment calls for the adoption of a new regulatory framework for nanomaterials.

The framework is called REACT NOW which stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, Categorisation and Tools to Evaluate Nanomaterials – Opportunities and Weaknesses.

Steffen Foss Hansen recommends that manufacturers and importers of nanomaterials (NMs) should be required to register any variation of their NM(s) prior to commercialisation and independent of production and import volumes. All uses of NMs should be evaluated according to the NanoRiskCat methodology that is also used in

The Nanodatabase. For NMs that have 1) a red professional end-user and/or a consumer exposure profile combined with a red human health hazard profile and/or 2) a red environmental exposure profile combined with a red environmental hazard profile, the registrant is required to complete an “Alternatives Assessment” and be subject to a scientific evaluation.

Uses of NMs where alternatives are available or deemed not to be safe should not be granted authorisation and should not be given permission to be marketed in Europe.

Another key element of REACT NOW is that registrant should be required to explain a relevant product’s functional use as these are often unclear and that they should carry out an effectiveness evaluation prior to the commercialisation of any nanomaterial.

For more information about REACT NOW, see http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v12/n8/full/nnano.2017.163.html?foxtrotcallback=true