On September 26, 2018, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will discuss the Fiscal Year 2019 Operating Plan.  According to the Operating Plan, in fiscal year (FY) 2019, CPSC will continue supporting nanotechnology research and working with other federal agencies under the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) to minimize duplication and overlap of existing research efforts.  CPSC will undertake the following collaborative research activities:

• Develop tools to prioritize and investigate human exposures to nanomaterials;
• Characterize the use and release of nanomaterials during the lifecycle of additive manufacturing systems and investigate the potential for consumer exposure;
• Co-sponsor the Workshop “Quantifying Exposure to Engineered Nanomaterials (QEEN) from Manufactured Products II”;
• Investigate the release and toxicity of silver nanowires from touchscreen displays;
• Assess the potential release of nanoparticles from selected consumer products, develop methods that assess the presence of nanomaterials in the home environment, and determine the applicability of existing alternative test methods for predicting nanomaterial toxicity;
• Collaborate with federal partners to maintain a nanotechnology consumer product database; and
• Continue the collaborations to develop indoor air models, characterize the release of nanomaterials from consumer products into indoor air, and determine the potential exposures to consumers.

The Operating Plan states that CPSC intends to establish or maintain three collaborations with other organizations to work on nanotechnology research or issues affecting consumer products and to produce reports on the collaborations.  In FY 2019, CPSC intends to release an updated nanotechnology statement.  A decisional meeting for the FY 2019 Operating Plan is scheduled to be held October 10, 2018.