Report on Nanotechnologies and Manufactured Nanomaterials -- Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (3/10/2010)

The United Nations' (UN) Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), a policy framework to promote chemical safety around the world, has developed an outline for a report focusing on nanotechnologies and manufactured nanomaterials including, in particular, issues of relevance to developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The secretariat has developed the outline based on initial work undertaken by Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Comments are invited and may be submitted until May 1, 2010. The final report will be submitted at the first meeting of the Open‑ended Working Group, in 2011, and at the third session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management. The draft outline can be viewed online at the link below.

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Food Safety: FDA Should Strengthen Its Oversight of Food Ingredients Determined to Be Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) -- U.S. Government Accountability Office (3/10/2010)

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report, "Food Safety: FDA Should Strengthen Its Oversight of Food Ingredients Determined to Be Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS)", stating that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not exercise adequate oversight over certain widely used food additives. The report highlights nanotechnology as having potentially beneficial uses to food, but adds that the emerging science presents potential challenges to the regulation of food safety. The GAO's report says that engineered nanomaterials are allowed to enter the food supply without the Agency's knowledge. According to the report, "...because companies are not specifically required to identify whether substances they submit to FDA contain engineered nanomaterials and GRAS notification is voluntary, FDA has no way of knowing the full extent to which engineered nanomaterials have entered the U.S. food supply in GRAS substances." Other countries, including Canada and the European Union, require any food containing engineered nanoparticles to clear regulatory hurdles before being approved for the marketplace. The GAO suggests that the FDA develop a strategy to systematically reconsider the safety of GRAS substances in light of evolving scientific information and methodologies, as well as a strategy to address the potential for engineered nanomaterials to enter the food supply as GRAS substances without the agency's knowledge - or risk having less oversight over substances whose safety is uncertain. The report can be viewed online at the link below.

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Nanotoxicology - Mammalian and Plant Cells Respond Differently to Fullerenes -- Nanowerk (3/10/2010)

This article looks at one of the many ways that scientists are exploring, and trying to understand, the potential toxicity of nanomaterials in the environment and in humans. While scientific certainty about the environmental and health impact of nanomaterials may never be achieved, a general understanding of nanotoxicity is beginning to emerge. A contribution to this body of knowledge is the work of Pu-Chun Ke, an associate professor at Clemson University, United States, who is conducting a parallel study of carbon-nanoparticle uptake by plant and mammalian cells. Ke says "[O]ur study provides a first parallel comparison on the uptake of carbon nanoparticles by plant Allium cepa and mammalian HT-29 cells. We have identified these two key factors in determining the fate of nanoparticles in biological and ecological systems: the structure of the host cell, and the physiochemistry of the nanoparticles." Ke and his team found that well-solubilized nanoparticles could induce cell damage in plant cells but were relatively benign to mammalian cells, while C70 nanoparticles suspended in natural organic matter increased cell damage in mammalian cells but imposed little effect on those of a plant. Ke explains that "[T]his research tells us that even for the same nanoparticles they may exert contrasting effects on biological and plant hosts due to the presence of an extra plant cell wall in the latter. For the same host systems, mammalian or plant cells included, nanoparticles may as well induce contrasting cell damage due to their different hydrophilicity." The results could be used both to mitigate the toxicity of nanoparticles as well as to design drug and gene delivery systems for mammalian and plant systems. The article can be viewed online at the link below.

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Nanotechnology for Sustainable Energy -- European Science Foundation (3/9/2010)

The European Science Foundation (ESF), the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung in Österreich (FWF), and the Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck (LFUI) are sponsoring a "Nanotechnology for Sustainable Energy" conference, to be held from July 4-9, 2010, at the Universitätszentrum Obergurgl, Austria. The topical areas to be covered are those where nanoscience and nanotechnology will, or may, have an impact on the development of a sustainable energy system. The overall goal is to convene experts in their respective fields at one conference, and both inventory and expose state-of-the-art nanoscience and nanotechnology research. The full program and registration information can be viewed online at the link below.

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Like Little Golden Assassins, 'Smart' Nanoparticles Identify, Target and Kill Cancer Cells -- Cornell University (3/9/2010)

Researchers at Cornell University, United States, have synthesized nanoparticles to identify, target and kill cancer cells. The nanoparticle, comprised of gold sandwiched between two pieces of iron oxide, is attached to antibodies that target a molecule found only in colorectal cancer cells. The nanoparticles become engulfed by the cancer cells, which can then be killed using a near-infrared laser, at a wavelength that does not harm normal tissue. According to Carl Batt, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Food Science, "[T]his is a so-called 'smart' therapy. To be a smart therapy, it should be targeted, and it should have some ability to be activated only when it's there and then kills just the cancer cells." The researchers hope to improve the technology to make it suitable for testing in a human clinical trial. They are also working on a similar experiment targeting prostate cancer cells. Their research findings were published online in the journal Nanotechnology. The article can be viewed online at the link below.

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Battery, Nanotechnology Partnership Launched by EPA to Protect Environment -- The Bureau of National Affairs' Daily Environment Report (3/9/2010)

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a partnership that will focus on bringing manufacturers of various types of lithium-ion batteries together with EPA and university scientists, non-governmental organizations, and other relevant parties, to help the manufacturers make environmentally sound manufacturing and material choices. This Design for the Environment partnership (DfE) is the first that has addressed an application of nanotechnology, by targeting companies that make lithium-ion batteries with carbon nanotubes. A fact sheet produced by DfE states that "[W]hen completed, it is expected that the life-cycle assessment results can be used by the lithium-ion battery industry to identify the materials or processes within a product's life cycle that are likely to pose the greatest impacts or potential risks to public health or the environment....In addition, given the use of nanotechnology in current and future lithium-ion battery products, the life-cycle analysis will also promote nanotechnology innovations in advanced batteries that result in reduced overall environmental emissions, including greenhouse gas emissions." Clive Davies, chief of EPA's DfE Branch, says the goal is to provide companies, by mid-2011, with information on how to improve their extraction, manufacturing and disposal practices. The article can be viewed online at the link below.

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Pedal-Powered Nanofiltration Kits Sent to Haiti -- Desalination and Water Reuse (3/8/2010)

Human-powered nanofiltration water-treatment systems have been sent to Haiti by researchers from the Department of Environmental Science & Engineering at South Korea's Gwangju Institute of Science & Technology (GIST). The systems can produce about 13 liters per minute of potable water from untreated water, which is passed through a pre-filter and a nanofiltration membrane module, without the use of electricity. The pressure needed to pump water is generated by pedaling the device like a bicycle or by using a handpump. The units are ideal for disaster-stricken countries, such as Haiti, where electricity is scarce or inaccessible, and water scarcity is a serious threat. GIST provides these units, in cooperation with missionaries, non-governmental organizations, other academic institutions, and system/component manufacturers, to regions where it is difficult to obtain clean water for human consumption. Other countries using the systems include Cambodia, Nigeria, and Sudan. The article can be found online at the link below.

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Is Nanotechnology too Broad to Practise? -- Nature Nanotechnology (3/8/2010)

This commentary, in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, by Rebekah A. Drezek and James M. Tour, both of Rice University, United States, argues that new regulations concerning nanomaterials should "... consider the details of individual materials, applications and environments to avoid generalizations that might stifle the entire field." The authors note that nanotechnology is extraordinarily broad, making regulation difficult and frustrating, for both regulators and manufacturers. The key, they say, is regulations that keep the practice of science safe, while refraining from a stifling overreaction that could regulate nanotechnology out of existence. The article offers suggestions to assist recommendations and decisions regarding nanotechnology, including the following: section "nanotechnology" into a number of narrowly defined fields when drafting recommendations rather than applying a single set of recommendations to all nanomaterials; help stakeholders identify the highest-quality nanotoxicology studies; and, focus regulation on specific materials used or particular products created rather than the underlying scientific regime or rubric. The authors conclude by saying that unless we "... modify the way that nanotechnology is regulated, future consumer product boxes might proudly bear the label 'Nano-Free!', and researchers will say that they are doing chemistry, electronics and biology rather than nanoscience and nanotechnology. This would negatively impact innovation, safety, education and the future of the field." The article can be viewed online at the link below.

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