Starting next week, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will host the 5th Meeting of the Open-Ended Committee of Permanent Representatives to UNEP (OECPR) and the second session of the 5th UN Environment Assembly, the highest political forum on environmental matters. While much of the buzz surrounding the meetings is about the push for a … Read More.
Strong evidence suggests that titanium dioxide is a carcinogen, but industry manufacturers are moving to block the implementation of European legislation to label the dangerous chemical in their products. If it’s successful, this lobbying effort could put at risk one of the strongest science-based regulations to protect public health from harmful substances. Titanium dioxide can … Read More.
What do sunscreen, toothpaste, and pastries have in common? Many of them contain a chemical called titanium dioxide, or TiO2, which is used to increase whiteness and block UV rays. Yet this same chemical — the one slathered on your kids when it’s sunny out and that goes into your mouth when you brush your … Read More.
From April 24 to May 5, 2017, Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions (BRS) met for the Triple Conference of Parties (COP) in Geneva. The theme of this Triple COP was #detoxify. Surprisingly, of the 1,600 people who attended, very few actually had this theme on their agendas. The national delegates to the … Read More.
Today, Friends of the Earth (FoE) US released a report on ‘Nanoparticles in Baby Formula’ revealing that popular infant formulas sold throughout the United States contain engineered nanomaterials. FoE tested a selection of six baby formula samples gathered from retailers in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. In all six of the baby formulas, nano-sized structures … Read More.
Hundreds delegates from governments, international organizations, public interest NGOs, and the chemical and pesticide industry just returned from a week-long conference in Geneva. The hot topic? Our health and environment over the next 15 years. Chemicals are in our food, clothes, and children’s toys, in household dusts and on our work floors, in our rivers … Read More.
Trade secrets: the fuzzy line between freedom of information and intellectual property rights In late November 2013, the European Commission released its proposed directive on the “protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure” with the objective of reinforcing the protection of so-called trade secrets. This proposal … Read More.
Wouldn’t you want to know if your house paint/ golfballs/ make-up/ spinach/ car tires could give you cancer? …How about if they might? Still interested? Deaf to the expressed desires of its citizens and researchers, the European Commission seemingly refuses to acknowledge the essential lack of transparency in the nano industry, instead preferring to rely … Read More.
EU Commission terminates Chief Scientific Advisor position after pressure from CIEL and partners By David Azoulay and Lainey Sidell Science is a critical tool for policy making, in particular on issues relating to human health and the environment. In some cases, science can give very definite answers; in others, there is uncertainty. Recognizing the wider … Read More.
How can policymakers adequately regulate nanomaterials if they don’t know what’s out here to regulate? This post is the second in a series of updates on the contentious technological development known as nanomaterials. At the heart of nanotechnology regulation is a need for information. Information is the key to developing appropriate regulatory tools to protect … Read More.
This post is the first in a series of updates on the current situation regarding the contentious technological development known as nanomaterials, a topic that has spurred heated debate as policymakers, industry, and environmental health experts weigh its potential to help versus harm. In response to intense lobbying and activism by NGOs and several European … Read More.
Nanomaterials are very, very small. When a molecule changes size, its properties – chemical, physical, toxic, etc. – also change. The expanding field of nanotechnology holds enormous potential for advancing technology in exciting ways, but the funding for innovation currently outpaces research into possible negative impacts by more than 3,000%. CIEL works actively to ensure … Read More.
Next week, negotiators from over 150 countries and other stakeholders will convene in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the future of global chemicals management. These critical negotiations come at decisive juncture for the Strategic Approach to Chemicals Management (SAICM), with only eight years left on its ambitious mandate to ensure sound chemicals management—eight years in which … Read More.
Nanomaterials are those tiny materials (1 nanometer is about 1/100,000 of the width of a human hair) that behave radically differently than would expected, relative to their bulk counterparts. Examples include carbon nanotubes and nano silver. Promoters of nanotechnology promise life-changing and civilization-saving applications, while scientific institutions and citizen organizations across the world argue for … Read More.
Hundreds of government delegates will join representatives of intergovernmental organizations, health and environmental advocates, as well as business groups in Belgrade, Serbia November 15-18 to improve the management of toxic chemicals. The Belgrade meeting, known as an Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG), sets the stage for the Third International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM3) in September … Read More.