Group Will Collect Data on Silver and Nanotechnology
(Washington, D.C. – March 13, 2009) Today, the Silver Institute and the Silver Research Consortium announced the formation of the Silver Nanotechnology Working Group (SNWG). The SNWG is an industry effort intended to foster the collection of data on silver nanotechnology in order to advance the science and public understanding of the beneficial uses of silver nanoparticles in a wide-range of consumer and industrial products.
The formation of the group is a result of regulatory challenges some companies are facing in registering new products containing silver nanoparticles. The main purpose of the SNWG is to allow industry participants to share environmental and human health information on their respective nanosilver products and processes, including research, findings, and other data that can be combined into a summarized format. This aggregated information can then be used by individual SNWG members for their registrations of silver nano products with regulatory agencies, to provide technical assistance to ongoing federal programs in nanotechnology, and put to rest unsubstantiated claims about products containing silver nanoparticles.
"We are pleased that four companies, Servicios Industriales Peñoles S.A. de C.V., Bayer MaterialScience, LLC, NanoHorizons, Inc., and BYK Chemie, GmbH, have joined as the initial members of the SNWG. Many other companies have expressed interest in our work, and we expect to announce new members to the group in the near future," said Rosalind Volpe, Executive Director of the SNWG.
"Silver is perhaps the oldest known antimicrobial agent, and nanoscale use of silver is the latest chapter. Our intention in launching the SNWG is to provide both industry and regulatory agencies with needed information as companies work through the required regulatory framework to bring silver nanoparticles and products containing silver nanoparticles to market," said Michael DiRienzo, Executive Director of the Silver Institute. “At the end of the day, we want companies to comply with existing law, but we also want a level playing field and the ability to submit scientific data to the decision makers and ensure that it is considered,” DiRienzo added.
The SNWG is based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and is operated under the auspices of the Silver Research Consortium, a research program funded by the silver industry.
The Silver Institute is an international industry association, which serves as the silver industry’s voice in increasing public understanding of the many uses and value of silver.
For Further Information Contact:
Dr. Rosalind Volpe
Silver Nanotechnology Working Group
Tel: (919) 361-4647
Mike DiRienzo
The Silver Institute
888 16th Street, N.W., Suite 303
Washington, D.C. 20006
Tel: (202) 835-0185
Fax: (202) 835-0155
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