The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is seeking feedback from a broad cross-section of stakeholders as they refresh their Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Research Strategy and reflect on progress toward the goals set in 2011. We encourage individuals, non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutions, and the private sector interested in the responsible development of nanotechnology to join us as we contribute to creating an updated NNI EHS Research Strategy.

The last few weeks have seen a number of announcements related to nano and sustainable materials testing, regulation and commercialization. These are some of the top stories that caught our eyes:

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) has released a significant new report which identifies potential hazards that could be introduced during production of cultured or cell-based foods and considers the sequence of events that would need to take place for harm to occur to consumers – a critical first step in risk assessment for these new foods.

At Vireo, we keep close surveillance on commercialization and regulatory developments in cultured and alt-protein meat and seafood, and we have rarely seen as much activity as this! Here is our roundup of the latest developments…

The development of standards and regulations for cultured meat can facilitate faster regulatory reviews and ensure safety. They can also provide guide rails for scale-up and commercialization efforts. Communication of these standards will provide consumers with confidence that the products are safe to use.