Another step towards more modern, mechanistic and humane approaches for the safety evaluation of new materials as the UK government responds to public pressure and reinstates a ban on animal testing.

Our roundup of the latest cultured meat developments includes announcements from Mosa Meats, Meatable, Aleph Farms, Smart MCs, and UPSIDE, plus commercially-relevant research from Tufts, Kobe University, and Enzymit, FDA approval for consumption of gene-edited pigs, regulatory and governmental perspectives on cultured meat safety research priorities from Vireo and New Harvest, and new labelling requirements in Texas.

The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is seeking feedback from a broad cross-section of stakeholders as they refresh their Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Research Strategy and reflect on progress toward the goals set in 2011. We encourage individuals, non-governmental organizations, academic and research institutions, and the private sector interested in the responsible development of nanotechnology to join us as we contribute to creating an updated NNI EHS Research Strategy.

The last few weeks have seen a number of announcements related to nano and sustainable materials testing, regulation and commercialization. These are some of the top stories that caught our eyes:

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) has released a significant new report which identifies potential hazards that could be introduced during production of cultured or cell-based foods and considers the sequence of events that would need to take place for harm to occur to consumers – a critical first step in risk assessment for these new foods.