Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Harmonizing Across Environmental Nanomaterial Testing Media for Increased Comparability of Nanomaterial Datasets

Published

Author(s)

Nicholas Geitner, Christine O. Hendren, Geert Cornelis, Ralf Kaegi, Jamie Lead, Gregory Lowry, Iseult Lynch, Bernd Nowack, Elijah Petersen, Emily Bernhardt, Scott Brown, Warren Chan, Camille de Garidel-Thoron, Jaydee Hanson, Stacey Harper, Kim Jones, Frank von der Kammer, Alan Kennedy, Justin Kidd, Cole Matson, Christopher Metcalf, Joel Pedersen, Willie Peijnenburg, Joris Quik, Sonia Rodriguez, Jerome Rose, Phil Sayre, Marie Simonin, Claus Svendsen, Robert Tanguay, Nathalie Tukenji, Tom van Teunenbroek, Gregory Thies, Yuan Tian, Jacelyn Rice, Jie Liu, Jason Unrine, Marina Vance, Jason White, Mark Wiesner

Abstract

The chemical composition and properties of environmental media play defining roles in determining nanomaterial (NM) transport, fate, biouptake, and even organism response. To compare and interpret experimental data, it is essential that sufficient context be provided for describing the physical and chemical charactheristics of the setting in which a nanomaterial may be present. While the nanomaterial environment, health and safety (NanoEHS) field has agreed upon some foundational aspects of harmonization to allow data comparison and re-use (e.g. the need for standardized materials, that a minimum set of material characterizations are required, and the need for consensus on specific assays for measuring these key parameters), the missing piece is for these standard tests on standard materials to be carried out within a commonly adopted set of consistent media. Since most of the NM properties driving environmental beaviour and toxicity are context- dependent, this missing piece of media harmonization is absolutely critical. Based on a workshop in March 2016 at Duke University, a set of characteristics are recommended for consistent reporting across five categories of test media: Aquatic Testing Media, Soil and Sediment Testing Media, Biological Testing Media, Engineered Systems Testing Media and Product Matrix Testing Media. Where available and sensible, we have in some cases recommended specific standardized media including set values for these consistently reported characteristics. Definitions and detail level of the recommendations vary across these media categories, reflective of the variation in the maturity of their existing definitions and associated measurement techniques, variation in utility and relevance of standardizing values in addition to simply standardizing reporting requirements, and in the availability of established standard reference media. Our expectation is that community utilization of these media harmonization recommendations will facilitate th
Citation
Royal Society of Chemistry Journal Environmental Science: Nano

Citation

Geitner, N. , Hendren, C. , Cornelis, G. , Kaegi, R. , Lead, J. , Lowry, G. , Lynch, I. , Nowack, B. , Petersen, E. , Bernhardt, E. , Brown, S. , Chan, W. , de Garidel-Thoron, C. , Hanson, J. , Harper, S. , Jones, K. , von der Kammer, F. , Kennedy, A. , Kidd, J. , Matson, C. , Metcalf, C. , Pedersen, J. , Peijnenburg, W. , Quik, J. , Rodriguez, S. , Rose, J. , Sayre, P. , Simonin, M. , Svendsen, C. , Tanguay, R. , Tukenji, N. , van Teunenbroek, T. , Thies, G. , Tian, Y. , Rice, J. , Liu, J. , Unrine, J. , Vance, M. , White, J. and Wiesner, M. (2019), Harmonizing Across Environmental Nanomaterial Testing Media for Increased Comparability of Nanomaterial Datasets, Royal Society of Chemistry Journal Environmental Science: Nano (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created November 8, 2019, Updated October 19, 2022