Widely present in food, cosmetics or even drugs, the use of nanomaterials is not sufficiently traceable, warns Tuesday, December 1 the National Health Security Agency (ANSES), which calls on the public authorities to strengthen monitoring of these products which are often poorly known and whose possible risks are of concern.
Read also: Nanoparticles, a thousand and one uses and as many fears
Microscopically in size, these nanomaterials can result from natural phenomena, such as combustion, but are also manufactured for some of their properties.
Like certain food additives, which make it possible to color or modify a texture.
In the wake of the “Grenelle de l'Environnement”, France has since 2013 made the declaration of
“substances in the nanoparticulate state”
mandatory
in an “R-Nano” register, managed by ANSES.
After carrying out a study on
"the quality, use and sharing"
of this data, or 52,752 declarations from 2013 to 2017, the agency sounded the alarm on several points, in a notice published Tuesday.
Because if the device has proved to be
"useful"
by allowing a first inventory of the
"significant quantities - more than 400,000 tonnes - of nanomaterials produced and imported each year"
, it also showed many limits, preventing it to fulfill its objectives.
Read also: Nanoparticles, a thousand and one uses and as many fears
"Poor level of intelligence and limited validity of the data"
thus make it difficult to use them, note the experts of the health agency, pointing out among other things the exemptions, the possible invocation of business secrecy or even
"the lack of verification of the validity of declared data ”
.
They also point out the lack of declaration obligation for end users, distributors for example, which prevents
traceability
"completely"
from being achieved
.
And all in all, these
"gaps
(...)
do not allow us to fully serve the assessment of the risks associated with nanomaterials, their traceability and public information"
.
The ANSES experts recommend in particular
"to drastically improve data collection"
,
"to raise the requirements in terms of data to be declared"
or
"to put in place a process of data control and sanction in the event of breach of obligations ”
.
They also want to be able to count nanomaterials
"by type of use
(...)
to enable the exposure of workers and consumers to be assessed"
.
