Some nanotechnology fanciers suggest that, like proverbial birds of a feather, engineered
nanoscale materials will flock - or clump - together. This tendency, they
maintain, should reduce or eliminate risks as nanotechnology manufacturing
increases and the number of nanotechnology-enabled products grows.
Think again, cautions nanoparticle expert Andrew Maynard, chief science
advisor to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars, in a new article written for the United
Kingdom's SAFENANO Initiative. Drawing on available scientific knowledge,
Maynard disputes the claim that the so-called agglomeration of engineered
nanomaterials will result in "super-sized" clusters so large that they
cannot penetrate deep inside the body, thereby eliminating the potential
for harm.
"Will people really be exposed to engineered nanomaterials?" Maynard
writes. "Despite protestations to the contrary, the science says, yes.
There is certainly no reason to believe that exposures will not occur to
both individual nanoparticles and agglomerates of nanoparticles that
present a nano-specific risk." The article - "Is Engineered Nanomaterial
Exposure a Myth?" - can be found at the SAFENANO website at:
http://www.safenano.org/.
Maynard points out that, in addition to addressing questions about
exposure, resolving concerns about potential health risks of nanotechnology
also will require better understanding of the toxicity of nanomaterials -
whether specific types of the materials are harmful or benign. The article
is accompanied by the inaugural entry in Maynard's new blog on the SAFENANO
Initiative website at: http://community.safenano.org/Blogs/.
Both examine the current state of the science needed to answer
questions about the potential environmental, health, and safety risks posed
by nanotechnology - so that the benefits can be maximized. "Clearly,
exposure to these materials will occur," Maynard explains in his blog
entry. "The challenge we face is surely to snap out of denial, and start to
ask what the nature of the exposures will be, and whether they will lead to
harm."
Nanotechnology is the ability to manipulate and manufacture products
with features measuring between 1 nanometer (billionth of a meter) and 100
nanometers. A human hair is about 80,000 nanometers in diameter. More than
an estimated $50 billion in products incorporating nanotechnology were sold
globally in 2006. The Nanotechnology Consumer Products Inventory begun in
2006 by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies now lists nearly 600
commercial items.
Launched by the UK's Institute of Occupational Medicine, an independent
research center, the SAFENANO Initiative helps industrial and academic
organizations to quantify and control risks to their workforce, as well as
to consumers, the general population and the environment.
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, an initiative begun by the
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and The Pew Charitable
Trusts in 2005, works to help business, government and the public
anticipate and manage possible health and environmental implications of
nanotechnology.
