Table 1.

Progress achieved following the establishment of a roadmap towards a globally harmonised approach for occupational health surveillance and epidemiological study of nanomaterial workers in 2012¹⁴

Roadmap element	Progress achieved	Comments
Exposure assessment
Qualitative description of exposure and context	Yes	Many reports (EU, USA, ISO*) NECID† Ontology
Identify emission sources and exposure types	Yes	Various papers but patchwork
Measure exposure parameters	Yes	Slow but steady flow of research articles
Identify descriptors for modelling	Yes	Models exist but are not ready for everyday use
Strategy to feed an exposure registry	Some	Strategy is established (NECID), but actual data are not yet gathered
Hazard assessment
Identify potential pathophysiological mechanisms	Some	Many toxicity tests done Novel nano–bio interactions not fully established, especially in relation to human pathophysiology
Find markers for short-term health effects	Yes	Many useful markers, but they are not specific to nanomaterials or to nano- specific pathways or diseases
Find markers for long-term health effects	Yes	Many useful markers, but they are not specific to nanomaterials or to nano- specific pathways or diseases
Strategy to feed occupational health databases	No	Researchers and countries work in isolation
Epidemiology and risk assessment and management
Propose adequate epidemiological designs	Limited	Traditional approaches only partially fit for purpose
Set up exposure and health effect registries	Limited	Some national efforts in USA and France
Identify different risk assessment and management cultures	No
Identify different data collection and protection philosophies	No

^*International Organization for Standardization.

^†Nano Exposure & Contextual Information Database (http://www.perosh.eu/development-of-a-nano-exposure-and-contextual-information-database-necid).