EDMONTON – Experts say Canada is poised to become the first government in the world to require companies to report their use of potentially harmful nanomaterials in products.

The information gleaned from this requirement is to be used to evaluate the risks that these ultra tiny materials pose to the health of people and the environment.

Officials with the Washington, D.C.-based Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies say Ottawa has been working with industry to develop this new rule.

The group says there is hope that when Canada brings in the rule next month that other countries, including the United States, will follow suit.

Last July a group of Canadian scientists and academics told the federal government that Ottawa urgently needs to assess the potential risks of nanomaterials, but Ottawa has yet to respond to their report.

It is estimated that more than 800 consumer products containing nanomaterials are being sold around the world.