Nanotechnology environmental, health and safety debate heats up
Filed in archive Environment & Health by george elvin on December 19, 2005

Other recent reports on nanotech EHS impacts include " Characterising The Potential Risks Posed By Engineered Nanoparticles " by the UK Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs, and the Woodrow Wilson Center' s " Research Inventory of the Environmental, Health and Safety Impacts of Nanotechnology. "
And last month, the National Science Foundation gave Brown University $1.8 million to study the effects of nanomaterials on human and animal cells. "The question isn't whether nanomaterials are good or bad," says the project' s Principal Investigator Robert Hurt. "The question is which are toxic? Under what conditions? And can we make and purify them in different ways to avoid toxicity - to make 'green' nanomaterials?"
And while the federal government is expected to increase funding for EHS research in coming years, it' s off to a slow start. In 2005, the federal government spent nearly $1 billion on nanotech research and applications. Of that amount, a total of $38.4 million (less than 5 percent) was focused on studying EHS impacts. Now, calls are increasing for the federal government to increase EHS spending to 10% of total nanotech funding.
Keith Blakely, CEO of NanoDynamics, speaking before the US House of Representatives Science Committee last month, suggested four major initiatives the US government should take to address nanotechnology EHS:
Increase overall federal support for EHS focused research in nanotech
Support EHS compliance efforts in emerging businesses
Coordinate individual agencies to develop EHS policies for nanotech
Promote public education around EHS and nanotech
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., chairman of the Committee, concluded that, "If nanotechnology is to fulfill its enormous economic potential, then we have to invest more right now in understanding what problems the technology might cause. This is the time to act, before we cause problems. "
Supporters of a 10% allocation to EHS include the NanoBusiness Alliance, Environmental Defense, the Foresight Institute, and many others. Tim Harper at Cientifica argues against earmarking 10% of all research dollars for safety studies.
Meanwhile, the UK government announced last month it will devote $8.5 million to studies on environmental and health risks from nanotechnology. That' s over one-third of the total spending on nanotechnology research by government, agencies and research councils in the UK. Europeans have been much more cautious than Americans about embracing nanotechnology, just as they' ve been slow to adopt genetically modified foods (GMOs). The UK has been the most open to GMOs, Germany is just now allowing the construction of its first GMO facilities, and Switzerland just voted for a five-year moratorium on GM crops. Clearly, as with GMOs, the US is pushing a new technology and Europe is thinking twice before pulling it in.
Here at nanotechbuzz you' ll find at least 10% of my posts dedicated to environmental, health and safety issues in nanotechnology. The reason is that knowledge is the best preventive medicine in guarding against the harmful application of technology. The more we know, the better our choices will be . . . as long as we take the time to step back and consider the environmental, health and safety implications of each decision we make in developing and applying this revolutionary technology.
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