Harmonization of measurement strategies for exposure to manufactured nano-objects; report of a workshop

The present paper summarizes the outcome of the discussions at the First International Scientific Workshop on Harmonization of Strategies to Measure and Analyze Exposure to (Manufactured) Nano-objects in Workplace Air that was organized and hosted by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance (IFA) (Zeist, The Netherlands, December 2010). It reflects the discussions by 25 international participants in the area of occupational (nano) exposure assessment from Europe, USA, Japan, and Korea on nano-specific issues related to the three identified topics: (i) measurement strategies; (ii) analyzing, evaluating, and reporting of exposure data; and (iii) core information for (exposure) data storage. Preliminary recommendations were achieved with respect to (i) a multimetric approach to exposure assessment, a minimal set of data to be collected, and basic data analysis and reporting as well as (ii) a minimum set of contextual information to be collected and reported. Other issues that have been identified and are of great interest include (i) the need for guidance on statistical approaches to analyze time-series data and on electron microscopy analysis and its reporting and (ii) the need for and possible structure of a (joint) database to store and merge data. To make progress in the process of harmonization, it was concluded that achieving agreement among researchers on the preliminary recommendations of the workshop is urgent.