Health and Safety Considerations for the Additive Manufacturing/3D-Printing of Consumer Products

Speaker Biography

Treye Thomas, Ph.D., is a Lead Toxicologist and Program Manager for the Chemicals, Nanotechnology and Emerging Materials (CNEM) program area in the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) Office of Hazard Identification and Reduction. His duties include establishing priorities and projects to identify and mitigate potential health risks to consumers resulting from chemical exposures during product use. Dr. Thomas has conducted comprehensive exposure assessment studies of chemicals in consumer products and quantified the potential health risks to consumers exposed to various chemicals including flame retardants, nanomaterials, wood preservatives, PFAS compounds and heavy metals. Dr. Thomas played a lead role in developing the CPSC nanotechnology research program and continues to engage in addressing the health and safety implications of emerging technologies including additive manufacturing/3D printing and wearable technology including virtual reality (VR) devices.

Dr. Thomas serves as a CPSC representative in a number of activities including as a federal liaison for the NAS Emerging Science for Environmental Health Decisions standing committee, the UL 3D Technical Advisory Board, and is the co-chair for the NNI Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications (NEHI) working group. Dr. Thomas received an MS from UCLA and PhD from the University of Texas, Health Science Center, before completing a post-doctoral fellowship in industrial toxicology.