Center for Nanotechnology in Society
University of California, Santa Barbara
www.cns.ucsb.edu
WEEKLY CLIPS
July 23 - 30, 2007
Weekly Clips from CNS-UCSB are now available online:
http://www.cns.ucsb.edu/clips/
July 25, 2007
FDA says no new labeling for nanotech products
CHICAGO - The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday said the rising number
of cosmetics, drugs and other products made using nanotechnology do not require
special regulations or labeling.
The recommendations come as the agency looks at the oversight of products that
employ the design and use of particles as small as one-billionth of a meter. There are
fears by consumer groups and others that these tiny particles are unpredictable,
could be toxic and therefore have unforeseen health impacts.
A task force within the FDA concluded that although nano-sized materials may have
completely different properties than their bigger counterparts, there is no evidence
that they pose any major safety risks at this time.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/07/25/AR2007072501570.html
July 30, 2007
Nanoproduct safety testing lags
University of Dayton is a leader in exploring nanomaterials and their
potential health risks
Nanoparticles can be so small that 100,000 match the thickness of a human hair.
Yet with new tools, like the scanning tunneling electron microscope, individual atoms
inside those particles can be moved around with great precision to create entirely
new materials with useful electrical and chemical properties.
…Yet the enormous promise of nanotechnology comes mixed with uncertainty.
Creating new particles with new properties may pose health and environmental
problems that no one can begin to foresee, scientists warn.
Early studies suggest that some nanoparticles may pass into the bloodstream when
inhaled, swallowed or applied to the skin. Once inside the body, these materials
appear to reach most or all tissues and organs, including the brain.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/07/29/ddn
073007nanoinside.html
July 27, 2007
A call to regulate nanotechnology products
The next woollen jumper you buy, may be resistant to bacteria, the socks may be
odour free, the trousers wrinkle and stain resistant and cling film will keep your food
fresh for longer, all using the emerging nanotechnology.
…But Friends of the Earth is worried. Georgia Miller is coordinator of the
Nanotechnology project and she says there are over 500 products on the market
now, not all in Australia, but good data is hard to get. (Woodrow Wilson Centre's
project web site.)
She says nano silver has not gone through a regulatory approval process, and
workers installing it are worried they might be at risk. She sites research to show
nano silver particles can affect mammalian cells.
http://www.abc.net.au/canberra/stories/s1989818.htm?backyard
July 26, 2007
The struggle of nanotechnology companies to
create value
If you have been an investor in nanotechnology companies and been lured by the
promised riches, the picture doesn't look very pretty right now. We have updated our
Nanotechnology Stock Index Performance chart, that we first showed six months ago
("Investing in nanotechnology stocks - golden opportunity or bad idea?"), and the
performance gap between the Dow Jones and the nanotechnology index funds has
widened significantly (it looks even worse if you replace the Dow Jones industrial
Index with a broad market index such as the Russell 2000). Of course, individual
nanotechnology stocks have done better, but then, some have done much worse.
That brings us to the question: What will it take for nanotechnology, taken as a set of
enabling technologies, to realize its disruptive potential and create value for
nanotechnology companies? An interesting answer can be found in an analysis of the
recent Unidym and Carbon Nanotechnologies merger. Growth in the sector through
consolidation may enable the creation of companies with the critical mass necessary
to finally get public investors really excited about nanotechnology.
http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=2277.php
July 24, 2007
Skin deeper
It's not a household term yet, but "nanotechnology" is poised to become the next big
buzzword in the beauty industry, and you soon may be reading terms like
"nanosomes" and "nanoparticles" on labels for wrinkle or acne creams. Here are the
basics for navigating the nano world.
…Some experts have voiced concerns about the safety of nanotechnology. For
instance, some sunscreens use nanoparticles of titanium dioxide or zinc oxide, and
there are experts who have raised the question of whether these substances
remaining in the skin can age it prematurely. According to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, "At the present time, the FDA does not have any evidence that
ingredients manufactured using nanotechnology, as used in cosmetics, pose a safety
risk." However, the FDA and other government agencies are still studying
nanotechnology to see if the products produced with it -- including cosmetics -- pose
health risks. So as of yet, there seem to be no definitive answers.
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/25586
August Issue
Life, But Not as We Know It
I have just spent a week 120 miles above the Arctic circle listening to a hand-picked
group of 17 scientists discuss how to make synthetic life forms. Like it or not, this is
going to happen, possibly in the next few years. Some will find that shocking, even
blasphemous. To others it will seem a tremendous opportunity, scientifically and
economically. Some hope it will help to solve urgent global problems. In any event,
there is clearly some explaining to be done.
…These are the products of synthetic biology, an emerging science that breaks down
life as we know it into its component parts, and then reassembles them into
something new. The size of these biological parts is typically a few to a few hundred
nanometres (millionths of a millimetre). That is also the scale on which physicists,
chemists and engineers are now designing ultra-small devices, which is why synthetic
biology overlaps with nanotechnology: each can supply components and ideas for the
other. This convergence, and the resulting prospect of "cyborg cells," was the subject
of our Arctic workshop. It was funded by a philanthropic foundation in California and
by research institutes in Delft and Cornell, all established with the backing of
physicist and businessman Fred Kavli. Partly as a ploy to ensure that those who
attended would stay put, the organisers, Paul McEuen at Cornell and Delft's Cees
Dekker, decided to hold it in the town of Ilulissat in Greenland.
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/article_details.php?search_term=nanotechnology&id=9740
July 27, 2007
How to deal with nanotechnology waste
All materials and products eventually come to the end of their useful life, and those
made with nanotechnology are no different. This means that engineered
nanomaterials will ultimately enter the waste stream and find their way into landfills
or incinerators—and eventually into the air, soil and water. As a result, it is important
to consider how various forms of nanomaterials will be disposed of and treated at the
end of their use, and how the regulatory system will treat such materials at the
various stages of their lifecycle.
A new report, release yesterday, from the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies,
"Where Does the Nano Go? End-of-Life Regulation of Nanotechnologies", addresses
these issues. Authored by Linda K. Breggin and John Pendergrass, legal experts from
the Environmental Law Institute (ELI), the report presents the most comprehensive
analysis to-date of two key Environmental Protection Agency laws that regulate the
end-of-life management of nanotechnology. These are the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as the Superfund statute.
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=2284.php
July 24, 2007
U.S. Demand for Nanotechnology in Construction
Applications to Approach $100 Million in 2011
Construction is one area where several "here and now" applications, such as
specialized coatings and self-cleaning glass, have already emerged for
nanotechnology. While current use is limited (demand in 2006 totaled less than $20
million in the U.S.), the market for nanomaterials used in construction is projected to
reach $100 million in 2011 and approach $1.75 billion in 2025. Nanomaterials offer
a myriad of improved performance properties for adhesives, concrete, coatings,
flooring, glass, lighting equipment, plumbing fixtures, and other construction
products. These and other trends including market share and industry leaders are
presented in "Nanotechnology in Construction," a new study from The Freedonia
Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry market research firm.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,145254.shtml
July 26, 2007
Nanotech takes on water pollution
Cleaning up contaminated water is big business, which explains all the
companies coming up with tiny solutions
Cleaning up contaminated water is big business. World demand for treatment is
forecast to increase 6 percent per year through 2009 to more than $35 billion,
according to a 2006 report by research firm Freedonia.
A new generation of nanotechnology companies is focused squarely on this market,
using nanoparticles that form chemical bonds with contaminants and don't let go.
Thiol-SAMMS, a powder first developed by Battelle Labs for the Department of
Energy, was brought to market last year by Steward Environmental Solutions of
Chattanooga, Tenn. It can suck up 60 percent of its own weight in mercury, arsenic,
lead, and other metals and is so absorbent that a single tablespoonful has the same
surface area as a football field.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/07/01/100
117050/
July 22, 2007
NanoTag catches diesel ‘thieves’
PUTRAJAYA: The NanoTag system has succeeded in stopping diesel cheats. More
than 640,000 litres of subsidised diesel worth almost a million ringgit have been
confiscated, thanks to nanotechnology.
The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry was confident that diesel it found
in several factories, transport companies, construction sites and quarries, diesel
wholesalers and hardware companies was subsidised fuel.
The ministry had mixed the subsidised diesel with a NanoTag — a type of liquid. Using
a special device, enforcement officers were able to detect the tagged fuel.
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/National/20070722074135/A
rticle
July 25, 2007
Rapidly growing nanotechnology product inventory
A nanotechnology product inventory shows a rapidly growing cosmetic products
sector from a widening geographical base - underlining the increasing need for
nanotechnology regulation on an international scale.
The inventory, published by the Project On Emerging Technologies, was released in
March 2006 and, although not comprehensive currently provides a list of more than
500 manufacturer identified products containing nanotechnology.
Since its release the cosmetics category has grown rapidly and now represents the
second largest category after clothing, with the majority of products being marketed
as either sun care or anti ageing products.
http://www.cosmeticsdesign.com/news/ng.asp?n=78495-project-on-emergingtechnologies-woodrow-wilson-center-nanotechnology-sun-care-anti
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