As nanotechnology continues to rapidly develop in a wide range of different sectors, governments, business and international organizations are increasingly focusing on how to stimulate its development while at the same time considering potential environment, health and safety issues.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) advises on emerging policy-relevant issues in science, technology and innovation related to the responsible development and use of nanotechnology, and also addresses the safety of manufactured nanomaterials. It also helps ensure that the approaches for hazard, exposure and risk assessment for manufactured nanomaterials are of a high quality, science-based and internationally harmonized. Since the establishment of the OECD nanotechnology program, the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC) has been an active partner, including in the OECD Sponsorship Program for the testing of selected manufactured nanomaterials.
As the OECD work continues to expand, the BIAC Nanotechnology Committee will have its annual Committee meeting in Washington, D.C. on September 19-20. The meeting will include a strategic discussion on challenges and opportunities our members encounter at the national or regional level, next steps with regard to the OECD sponsorship program, the future orientations of work related to science, technology and innovation as well as cross-cutting issues and work in other international organizations.
Speakers at the meeting, which will include a review of the first round of U.S.-EU talks under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, include Rachel Shub, senior director for EU regulatory affairs at the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and Julia Doherty, USTR’s senior director for technical barriers to trade.
Staff contact: Helen Medina
