Sir

In response to your News story 'Nanoparticle safety in doubt' about lung damage in Chinese factory workers (Nature 460, 937; 2009), we would like to stress that China has been paying close attention to research into and documentation of the risks of working with nanomaterials.

As in most Western countries, industrial use of nanoscale products has been proliferating in China over the past decade. These are widely used in weaving, dyeing, cosmetics and medicine, for example, as well as in waste-water treatments. The need to develop international standard-analysis protocols to assess nanoparticle toxicities is therefore becoming increasingly urgent.

China is taking measures to address the issues (for a review, see G. Q. Zhou et al. Prog. Biochem. Biophys. 35, 998–1006; 2008). These have included a series of national conferences and symposia on the safety of nanomaterials: for example, the 243rd Xiangshan conference in 2004. Research projects such as the '973 programme' of basic research and development have been initiated by the Chinese ministry of science and technology. And several important projects have been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation.

A recently established Chinese journal, Asian Journal of Ecotoxicology, publishes primary research papers and reviews on nanoparticle safety and toxicity in almost every issue. There are regular updates on developments in the field and a scientific platform for data sharing and policy discussion (for example, see N. Wang et al. Asian J. Ecotoxicol. 2, 252–264; 2007).

We urge the relevant international scientific organizations to join forces and work out a scheme for establishing high-speed tests that will sort out safety and toxicity issues for different industrial nanomaterials (R. F. Service Science 321, 1036–1037; 2008). Such a collaborative venture would accelerate progress in this rapidly expanding field.