Nanotechnology In The Environment: Making Sure Wonder Materials Don't Become Wonder Pollutants
Summary posted by Meridian on 4/9/2008
Source: ScienceDaily
Author: n/a
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, both in the U.S., have studied ten types of commercially-made carbon nanotubes with different compositions to determine the chemical byproducts of their manufacturing processes and devise methods for monitoring them in the environment. The article says that “most previous toxicity studies have generally assumed that all nanotubes are the same,” but that their “diversity of chemical signatures will make it harder to trace the impacts of carbon nanotubes in the environment.” According to the article, the researchers found in an earlier study that the carbon nanotube manufacturing process results in the emission of at least 15 aromatic hydrocarbons, including four types of toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The researchers now plan to collect real-time data from a European nanotube manufacturing plant. Researcher Desirée Plata said, “We want to work proactively with the carbon nanotube industry to avoid repeating environmental mistakes of the past. Instead of reacting to problems, we hope to preclude them altogether." The article can be viewed online at the link below.
The original article may still be available at www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408132129.htm
As tagged by Meridian Institute:
Implications:
Environmental Risks
Nanomaterials:
Carbon Nanoparticle
Regions:
North America
Stakeholders:
Industry, Academia
Related Forums:
Understanding Public Debate on Nanotechnologies: Options for Framing Public Policy
-- The Innovation Society (2/8/2010) The Governance and Ethics Unit of the Directorate General for Research (DG Research) of the European Commission (EC) has published an overview paper on options for framing public policy on nanotechnologies. [More]
UN Patent Filings Dropped for 1st Time Since 1978
-- ABC news (2/8/2010) The United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an entity through which a company can, for a fee, file a request for patent protection in any or all of the 142 countries that have subscribed to the U.N.'s Patent Cooperation Treaty, reported that the number of international patent filings dropped last year for the first time since 1978. [More]
TECHNOLOGY: Science Panel Probes Renewable Energy's Current Use of China's Rare Metals
-- Environment & Energy Daily (2/8/2010) A United States House of Representatives Science and Technology subcommittee this week will hold a hearing on rare earth mineral production and the resource's role in the growing clean energy industry. [More]
Nanofood for Thought
-- Nature Nanotechnology (2/5/2010) This editorial, in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, is in response to the recent report, "Nanotechnologies and Food", released in January by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, United Kingdom, that criticized the food industry for failing to be transparent about its research into the uses of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials. [More]
Learn how to include these headlines on your own website by clicking here.
Please email us if you require text-only versions of the daily emails.
