Source: SPECIALIST PRINTING WORLDWIDE : ISSUE 2: 2012
Elaine Campling discusses the issues surrounding compliance
They might be small, but they are currently big on regulatory agendas. I am, of course, referring to nanomaterials. Whilst nanotechnology is not new, many of us within the regulatory world of industry have only fairly recently found ourselves talking nanotechnology and regulation of nanomaterials.
Substances generally have internal structures on the nanoscale, since they comprise atoms and molecules, but most are bound in the matrix of larger structures. The health, safety and environmental effects of larger molecules is generally considered to be better understood than those of nanomaterials. At the nanoscale, the physical, chemical and biological properties of materials may differ from the properties of individual atoms and molecules of bulk matter.
These specific properties, which are harnessed in nanotechnological applications, may also involve different interactions with human physiology and environment.