USYD academics call for nano-safety standards body in Australia

Australia’s University of Sydney (USYD) academics have highlighted the need for an authority to supervise the safety of nanomaterials added to cosmetics.

According to USYD, nanomaterials contain nanoparticles that are smaller than 100 nanometers in dimension, which is around 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

A call for the establishment of a national standards body comes in the wake of the availability of products such as colloidal silver and titanium dioxide in Australia, which are currently under review in the EU.

Nanotechnology is already used in sunscreens to provide protection from ultraviolet (UV) rays.

University of Sydney Nano Institute faculty of pharmacy associate professor Wojciech Chrzanowski said: “We are calling for the establishment of Nanosafety Australia to work with existing regulatory bodies to ensure that we fully understand any risks we face from introducing nanomaterials into our diet and environment.”

He added: “There is a debate in the EU about this already. France and Germany have removed some products that contain nanomaterials, such as titanium dioxide, and it is a requirement that products are labelled to show they have nanomaterials, but there isn’t even a discussion in Australia.

“We actually don’t know the impact these materials have on our immune systems over time.”