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Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology, an emerging science in which matter is manipulated at the near-atomic level, is raising safety concerns because products that use it are being sold without adequate testing or labeling.

To prevent a crisis in consumer confidence, and to ensure that products made using nanotechnology are safe for widespread use, a group of experts has established five “grand challenges” for evaluating the safety of nanotech.

Nanotechnology is already being used in the manufacture of numerous consumer products, such as suntan lotion, cosmetics and stain-resistant clothing. It’s controversial because few studies exist that look at the safety of this technology, which works with particles that are extremely small. What research does exist shows that the harmfulness of nanoparticles can be influenced by a variety of factors, such as their size, surface area, surface chemistry and ability to dissolve in water.

The five challenges, set out in the journal Nature, include: developing instruments to assess exposure to nanomaterials; creating and testing ways to evaluate the toxicity of nanomaterials; generating models to predict the impact of nanomaterials on the environment and human health; developing ways to assess health and environmental impacts of these materials over their lifetime; and organizing programs to quickly enable risk-focused research into this field.

They hope to complete all of these challenges over the next 15 years, with research programs being established over the next 12 months. With many of these products already on the market, they can’t get started soon enough.

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To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org