Cellulose nanomaterials (CNs) derived from wood fibers are renewable materials with wide applicability for use in consumer products as bio-based composite materials and have the potential to replace petroleumbased materials in many existing and novel applications. Because their nanoscale features may impart novel chemical properties and behaviors, it is necessary to address the environmental and safety aspects of CNs to ensure safety in commercial applications, before wide introduction into society. NANO LCRA, a proposed life cycle risk assessment framework, was used for pre-commercial screening of selected applications of CN as a method for systematically identifying and assessing potential risks of CN from occupational, consumer and environmental exposures throughout the product life cycle. The analysis identifies potential exposure scenarios, evaluates toxicity and assesses the adequacy of available data to characterize risk, highlighting data needs and gaps that must be filled to reduce current uncertainty about CN safety. The analysis revealed that occupational inhalation exposure associated with handling CN as a dry powder was the highest priority data gap including the challenge of quantitative measurement for exposure assessment, followed by gaps in knowledge about the toxicity of CN in consumer use products, such as packaging, particularly for food contact. The NANO LCRA findings were then organized into a roadmap for filling key data gaps to allow safety and sustainability assessment that prioritizes data needs according to risk significance to ensure that uncertainty about the CN safety does not interfere with the commercialization of products to market.Environ. Sci.: Nano This journal is

The Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) has a history of bringing thought leadership to topics of emerging risk. In September 2014, the SRA Emerging Nanoscale Materials Specialty Group convened an international workshop to examine the use of alternative testing strategies (ATS) for manufactured nanomaterials (NM) from a risk analysis perspective. Experts in NM environmental health and safety, human health, ecotoxicology, regulatory compliance, risk analysis, and ATS evaluated and discussed the state of the science for in vitro and other alternatives to traditional toxicology testing for NM. Based on this review, experts recommended immediate and near-term actions that would advance ATS use in NM risk assessment. Three focal areas-human health, ecological health, and exposure considerations-shaped deliberations about information needs, priorities, and the next steps required to increase confidence in and use of ATS in NM risk assessment. The deliberations revealed that ATS are now being used for screening, and that, in the near term, ATS could be developed for use in read-across or categorization decision making within certain regulatory frameworks. Participants recognized that leadership is required from within the scientific community to address basic challenges, including standardizing materials, protocols, techniques and reporting, and designing experiments relevant to real-world conditions, as well as coordination and sharing of large-scale collaborations and data. Experts agreed that it will be critical to include experimental parameters that can support the development of adverse outcome pathways. Numerous other insightful ideas for investment in ATS emerged throughout the discussions and are further highlighted in this article.

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