[extropy-chat] FWD (SK) More Research Urged on Nanoparticle Risk

[Terry W. Colvin]

More Research Urged on Nanoparticle Risk

    - By MICHELLE R. SMITH, Associated Press Writer
    Monday, December 12, 2005

    (12-12) 09:33 PST Providence, R.I. (AP) --

    Those stain-resistant khakis you just picked 
up at the mall, the tennis ball that holds its 
bounce longer and sunscreen that's clear instead 
of white have something in common — nanotechnology.

    Scientists manipulating matter at the 
molecular level have improved on hundreds of 
everyday products in recent years and are 
promising dramatic breakthroughs in medicine and 
other industries as billions of dollars a year 
are pumped into the nascent sector.

    But relatively little is known about the 
potential health and environmental effects of the 
tiny particles — just atoms wide and small enough 
to easily penetrate cells in lungs, brains and other organs.

    While governments and businesses have begun 
pumping millions of dollars into researching such 
effects, scientists and others say nowhere near 
enough is being spent to determine whether 
nanomaterials pose a danger to human health.

    Michael Crichton's bestselling book "Prey" 
paints a doomsday scenario in which a swarm of 
tiny nanomachines escapes the lab and threatens 
to overwhelm humanity. Scientists believe the 
potential threat from nanomaterials is more 
everyday than a sci-fi thriller, but no less serious.

    Studies have shown that some of the most 
promising carbon nanoparticles — including long, 
hollow nanotubes and sphere-shaped buckyballs — 
can be toxic to animal cells. There are fears 
that exposure can cause breathing problems, as 
occurs with some other ultrafine particles, that 
nanoparticles could be inhaled through the nose, 
wreaking unknown havoc on brain cells, or that 
nanotubes placed on the skin could damage DNA.

    The National Institute for Occupational 
Safety and Health is developing guidelines for 
working with nanomaterials, saying the tiny 
particles may raise health concerns and the risk 
to those who work with them is unknown.

    Also unknown is the risk to consumers and the environment.

    "No one knows, and that's the problem," said 
Pat Roy Mooney, executive director of the ETC 
Group, an Ottawa-based nonprofit that studies the 
impact of technology on people and the 
environment. "People are rubbing them on our skin 
as sunscreens and as cosmetics."

    Mooney's group is calling for products, such 
as sunscreen, that are directly absorbed into the 
body to be taken off the shelf until there is more study.

    "Frankly, I don't think that skin creams or 
stain resistant pants or food additives are a 
good reason to sacrifice someone's health," he said.

    The federal government currently spends 
about $1 billion a year on nanotechnology 
research under its National Nanotechnology Initiative.

    A newly released inventory by the Project on 
Emerging Nanotechnologies found about $6 million 
being spent annually by the federal government on 
research that is highly focused on health and 
environmental effects of nanotechnology. Though 
the inventory is not a complete accounting of all 
research, it indicates that a small percentage of 
research dollars are going to health and safety, 
said Dave Rejeski, director of the non-partisan policy group.

    "More energy and more funding needs to go 
into it," said Kevin Ausman, executive director 
of the Center for Biological and Environmental 
Nanotechnology at Rice University in Texas.

    "There is not going to be a simple answer to 
the question 'Is nanotechnology dangerous?'" he said.

    But Ausman and others said the 
nanotechnology sector is ahead of the curve when 
it comes to understanding potential dangers, and 
is doing far more early research than has been 
done in other industries, even one as relatively new as biotechnology.

    "These issues are being discussed openly," 
said Agnes Kane, a pathologist at Brown 
University, who is moving into nanotechnology 
after extensive work researching asbestos. She is 
one of several Brown professors sharing a $1.8 
million, four-year grant to study the effects of 
nanoparticles on human and animal cells.

    The asbestos industry, which doled out 
staggering sums of money for liability lawsuits 
after material used for insulation was shown to 
cause cancer and other ailments, paid the price 
for a failure to fully understand the product's 
dangers before putting it on the market, Kane said.

    "This is one of the few areas that I've been 
in that there has been a discussion at the beginning," she said.

    Rejeski said researchers are struggling with 
how much to spend and how to decide what research 
to fund. The group's inventory of research is a 
kind of "nanotech dating service" that can help 
match up researchers with similar interests who 
are looking for partners, he said.

    It can also identify holes and point to 
areas that need more funding. For example, a 
search of the inventory shows much of the 
research now happening is focused on the lungs. 
Very little is focused on the gastrointestinal 
tract — even though there are new toothpastes 
being developed that use nanotechnology, Rejeski said.

    There's also very little so-called lifecycle 
research — how nanomaterials break down in the environment, Rejeski said.

    Scientists are also working on creating a 
standard terminology for nanotechnology so that 
researchers from different backgrounds can work 
together and better understand the research that's been done in other fields.

    The NanoBusiness Alliance, a group of large 
and small businesses, is looking at working with 
other groups to conduct an economic analysis of 
the level of funding that is needed for 
environmental health and safety research in the 
coming year. The alliance consists primarily of 
nanotech startups but also includes major 
corporations such as Lockheed Martin and Motorola 
and research institutions including Northwestern and Purdue universities.

    Sean Murdock, executive director of the 
group, said he believes it's premature to 
regulate the young industry but that businesses 
recognize that more health and safety research is needed.

    "If we keep our eye on the ball," he said, 
"we can avoid big downstream problems."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/12/11/national/a094455S38.DTL



-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
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