First South African National Workshop on Nanotechnology Risk Assessment

The First South African National Workshop on Nanotechnology Risk Assessment was held in Pretoria from the 30 March – 1 April 2009. The objectives of the workshop were to:

• Establish a national research platform network
  • Identify key tasks
  • Establish an operational research framework
  • Develop evaluation metrics for proposed/agreed goals

• Raise the level of awareness of a diverse group of stakeholders on the need for evidence-based risk assessment to support nanotechnologies and nanosciences.

• Nano-HSE Workshop (March 2009)

• Opening address by DST(Joseph Molapisi)
• Opening address by CSIR(Ndeke Musee)
• Workshop programme
• Workshop presentations
  • Development of a national nanotechnology risk assessment research platform: fundamental building blocks (Ndeke Musee, NRE, CSIR, South Africa)
  • Real and perceived risks of nanotechnology: Research needs and regulatory actions (Gunter Oberdorster, University of Rochester, USA)
  • Proposals on the implications of nanotechnology risks to South Africa. What are the urgent research needs? (Mary Gulumian, Toxicology and Biochemistry Section, NIOH, South Africa)
  • Present challenges (at national and international levels) of undertaking risk assessment research on nanomaterials (Kai Savolainen, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Finland)
  • In-vivo and in-vitro studies on pathological effects of engineered nanomaterials at cellular/molecular levels (Kenneth Donaldson, University of Edinburg, UK)
• Discussion group presentations
  • Group 1: Nanomaterials Characterization & Dosimetry
  • Group 2: Environmental Effects and Exposure Assessment
  • Group 3: Epidemiology/Toxicology in Mammalian Systems
  • Group 4: Risk Assessment and Risk Management
• Closing statements by DST(Joseph Molapisi)
• Delegate list