OECD | Advanced Materials Assessment Schemes HARMLESS - OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) Workshop Report

Abstract - Advanced Materials could be understood as those purposely designed to have 1) new or enhanced properties, and/or 2) targeted or enhanced structural features with the objective to achieve specific or improved functional performance1 . As it is the case with nanomaterials, advanced materials have unique properties, which make them attractive, but may also represent a risk to workers, consumers, and the environment. It is therefore of utmost importance to understand if those advanced characteristics challenge traditional risk assessment methods, so that neither safety nor innovation are compromised, and sustainability is weighed in2 . To move forward in the assessment of currently available assessment schemes and evaluate their applicability as foresight tools to anticipate issues with the safety and sustainability of AdMa, the consortium of the EU-funded HARMLESS project (https://www.harmlessproject.eu/) organised an expert’s workshop in collaboration with the OECD Steering Group (SG) on AdMa. Within this workshop four recently developed schemes (InnoMat.Life, Arvidsson et al., Early4AdMa, and Kennedy et al.) were reviewed and three of them were tested using data from a selected HARMLESS case study on Aerogels, an already commercially available façade insulation material with advanced properties over conventional thermal insulation materials. During the workshop, experts had the chance to evaluate the different schemes with real data provided by HARMLESS and discuss the pros and cons of each scheme (including data demands, data gaps to fulfil the scheme, ease of use, etc). Results are summarised in this report with the aim to evaluate current foresight schemes regarding their suitability for AdMa and contribute building new and fine-tuning relevant existing schemes to address safety and sustainability issues in AdMa development within the context of product development and regulatory preparedness in a timely manner.