Agencies do not have consensus-based standards to measure nanoparticles, cannot interpret the results of toxicity tests, and do not have agreed-upon names for some nanoparticles, according to Maria Doa, director of the EPA’s Chemical Control Division, who spoke at a nanotechnology workshop organized by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in December 2011.

The American Chemistry Council’s Nanotechnology Panel said companies need standards to support efforts to test the safety of their products and to protect workers. Workshop participants discussed reasons for the failure to have standards, largely blamed on broad use of the term “nanotechnology.” That word is used in science, engineering and technology dealing with material between approximately 1 nanometer and 100 nanometers. Some workshop attendees indicated that many different types of standards will be needed for diverse applications of nanomaterials.