Center for Nanotechnology in Society
University of California, Santa Barbara
www.cns.ucsb.edu
WEEKLY CLIPS
October 6 - 14, 2008
Weekly Clips from CNS-UCSB are available online: http://www.cns.ucsb.edu/clips/
October 10, 2008
UCSB Center for Nanotechnology in Society Helps
Land $24 Million National Center to Study
Environmental Impacts of Nanotechnology
Santa Barbara, Calif. – The Center for Nanotechnology in Society at the University of
California at Santa Barbara (CNS-UCSB) helped to win the new University of California
Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (UC CEIN), a five-year,
$24 million center co-funded by the National Science Foundation and the
Environmental Protection Agency to study the environmental impacts of
nanotechnology. The new center, headquartered at UCLA but involving significant
collaboration from UC Santa Barbara researchers, will include a research group on
environmental risk perception led by Dr. Barbara Herr Harthorn, Director of the CNSUCSB and Associate Professor of Feminist Studies, Anthropology & Sociology. CNSUCSB also will collaborate in the UC CEIN’s novel science journalist program, led by
Professor William Freudenburg, a professor in UCSB’s Environmental Studies
Program and a member of Harthorn’s team. UC CEIN also includes other researchers
in the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, Environmental
Studies, Chemistry, and Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology.
http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?id=1400&nid=14400&linkSource=edhat.com
October 10, 2008
EPA issues consent order for company planning to
develop carbon nanotubes
For the first time, U.S. EPA has declared a nanomaterial "new" and subject to further
regulation in response to a company planning to develop carbon nanotubes.
EPA issued a manufacturing consent order last month to Thomas Swan and Co. Ltd.
after the company submitted its premanufacturing notification for multi-walled
carbon nanotubes.
The order sets out conditions for the company, including conducting a 90-day
inhalation test for rats; giving EPA a 1-gram sample of the material, along with a
safety data sheet; and requiring workers to wear protective gear.
The order is significant because EPA has for the first time called a nanomaterial
"new" under the Toxic Substances Control Act and suggested a path for future
regulations.
http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2008/10/10/archive/12?terms=nanotechnolog
y
October 7, 2008
Federal action to ensure safety of nanotechnology
remains elusive
Despite the growing use of nanoengineered materials in consumer products, recent
indications from the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety
Commission suggest that neither agency is prepared to act any time soon to regulate
nanoscale ingredients. Increasingly, manufacturers are developing products with
substances like carbon nanotubes, engineered at the nanometer scale to have
dramatic new chemical and physical properties. These tiny new substances, some
100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, can be more reactive, more
toxic, and more accessible to critical organs like the brain than their larger
counterparts.
Last month, nearly two years after its first public meeting on the subject, the FDA
hosted another meeting, requesting more feedback about whether and how it should
develop guidance for manufacturers on testing to assess unique risks posed by
materials manipulated at the molecular level. Such guidance was recommended by
the FDA Task Force on Nanotechnology in its 2007 report. The FDA focused its
request on nanoscale applications within its jurisdiction to regulate foods, drugs,
personal care products and medical devices.
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/2008/10/nanotech-safety.html
October 13, 2008
Three reasons why a declining economy can be
good for nanotechnology
1. Less resources force innovators to look for simpler more economical solutions.
Most invention is incremental in nature and build upon decades of earlier
developments. For example, the techniques to manufacture integrated circuits have
been developed over about 50 years and while the improvements in these
techniques have been significant and have led to cheaper and more efficient
electronics, the manufacturing cost and complexity have increased at a similar pace
in accordance with Moore’s 2nd law. Semiconductor and electronics companies
faced with a rapid decline in capital may be forced to look for dramatically different
approaches to fabrication in order to stay in business. It is very likely that
nanomaterials and nanolithographic techniques may play a key role in such new
fabrication.
http://www.nanovip.com/node/53855
October 7, 2008
European Commission sees no regulatory void on
nanotechnology
While knowledge gaps remain regarding the potential risks of nanotechnologies, the
European Commission again expressed confidence that existing EU regulation can be
applied to this emerging sector, stressing that the challenge ahead lies in their
implementation.
"We are not in a regulatory void," said Cornelis Brekelmans, an official in charge of
regulatory aspects of nanotechnology at the European Commission.
Speaking at a conference on 2 October, Brekelmans said this was because EU rules
impose a risk assessment on all products, adding that nanomaterials were no
exception to this obligation.
…According to the Commission official, "the real issue is implementation and
enforcement". The basis on which a product can be banned must be better identified,
he added, calling for enforcement capacities at national level to be strengthened in
this respect.
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=7617.php
October 11, 2008
Green Nanotechnology Is Ready To Come Of Age
Alongside renewable energy, green tech is tipped to become employment sector
number one in the next decades if you believe reports by major organizations
covering green jobs. But my hunch is to keep a check of nano technology as well.
Because green technology's tendency to thrive on clever solutions to reduce energy
usage is all great but it boils down to a rather finite activity. Humans will look for the
next challenge and switch their attention to those found in truly greening production
of tangible materials. That’s in essence the domain of nanotechnology.
…For the time being there has been little reason to be all to obsessed with
nanotechnology in a green context. That is because nano-engineered products are
both intensely distrusted and overly hyped. We seem to be aware of the technology's
potential in a positive sense yet there’s also a tremendous amount of skepticism
because toxic substances are often created in the process that ordinary technology
can’t handle.
But then again, those few nano-products that actually are green at the core are
incredibly laudable. One example is the production of environmentally friendly gold
particles, a recent development that the manufacturing marketplace is already wildly
enthusiastic about. GreenNano, the new nanotech company that started
commercializing eco-friendly gold nano-particles is receiving lots of press attention.
The man who heads it all up, Kattesh Katti, is the renowned professor of radiology
and physics attached to the University of Missouri's School of Medicine and College
of Arts and Science.
http://www.nanovip.com/node/53852
October 13, 2009
Nanotechnology offers alternative to
fossil fuels
Nanotechnologies can be used to develop sustainable energy systems
while reducing the harmful effects of fossil fuels as they are gradually
phased out over the next century.
This optimistic scenario is coming closer to reality as new technologies such as
biomimetics and Dye Sensitised Solar Cells (DSCs) emerge with great promise for
capturing or storing solar energy, and as nanocatalysis develops efficient catalysts
for energy-saving industrial processes Europe is ready to accelerate development of
these technologies, as delegates heard at a recent conference, Nanotechnology for
Sustainable Energy, organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF)
The conference focused on solar rather than other sustainable energy sources such
as wind, because that is where nanotechnology is most applicable and also because
solar energy conversion holds the greatest promise as a long-term replacement of
fossil fuels.
http://www.laboratorytalk.com/news/eun/eun143.html
October 9, 2008
Europe rallies behind nanotechnology to wean
world from fossil fuels
Nanotechnologies can be used to develop sustainable energy systems while reducing
the harmful effects of fossil fuels as they are gradually phased out over the next
century. This optimistic scenario is coming closer to reality as new technologies such
as biomimetics and Dye Sensitized solar Cells (DSCs) emerge with great promise for
capturing or storing solar energy, and nanocatalysis develops efficient catalysts for
energy-saving industrial processes. Europe is ready to accelerate development of
these technologies, as delegates heard at a recent conference, Nanotechnology for
Sustainable Energy, organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF) in
partnership with Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung in Österreich
(FWF) and the Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck (LFUI).
The conference focused on solar rather than other sustainable energy sources such
as wind, because that is where nanotechnology is most applicable and also because
solar energy conversion holds the greatest promise as a long-term replacement of
fossil fuels. Solar energy can be harvested directly to generate electricity or to yield
fuels such as hydrogen for use in engines. Such fuels can also in turn be used
indirectly to generate electricity in conventional power stations.
http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=7646.php
October 7, 2008
Nanofood safety proposal 'not enough'
Companies could soon be required to tell Australian authorities if they are using
nanotechnology in food, but critics say they should also be required to provide new
safety data and labelling for consumers.
Under a proposal released this month by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand
(FSANZ), food companies would be required to provide information on the size and
shape of nanoparticles used in food, if this could have implications for food safety
assessment.
According to a survey by Friends of the Earth there are more than 104 foods, food
packaging, kitchen and agricultural products worldwide that contain extremely small
'nanoscale' ingredients.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/10/08/2385683.htm?site=science&
topic=latest
October 11, 2008
Food nanotechnology means what?
A couple of weeks ago I took part in a dialogue meeting in Brussels organised by the
CIAA, the Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU, about
nanotechnology in food. The meeting involved representatives from big food
companies, from the European Commission and agencies like the European Food
Safety Association, together with consumer groups like BEUC, and the campaigning
group Friends of the Earth Europe. The latter group recently released a report on food
nanotechnology - Out of the laboratory and on to our plates: Nanotechnology in food
and agriculture; according to the press release, this “reveals that despite concerns
about the toxicity risks of nanomaterials, consumers are unknowingly ingesting them
because regulators are struggling to keep pace with their rapidly expanding use.” The
position of the CIAA is essentially that nanotechnology is an interesting technology
currently in research rather than having yet made it into products. One can get a
good idea of the research agenda of the European food industry from the European
Technology Platform Food for Life. As the only academic present, I tried in my
contribution to clarify a little the different things people mean by “food
nanotechnology”. Here, more or less, is what I said.
http://www.nanovip.com/node/53849
October Issue
When it pays to ask the public
The development of nanotechnology as a separate discipline has coincided with
some important shifts in our ideas about the relationship between science (and
technology) and society. Because of this, we have seen an unprecedented interest in
exploring ways of somehow involving the public in decisions about science and
technology — including decisions about funding, despite some unease in the
scientific community — even though the potential impacts of nanotechnology remain
speculative. In countries across the world, we have seen consensus conferences,
focus groups and citizens' juries deliberating about these impacts, although these
efforts have not been without criticism.
Given the breadth, and the diffuseness, of nanotechnology as a field, and the wide
range of potential impacts it might have, it has sometimes been difficult to maintain
a focus and to find issues that people can get a purchase on, with the result that the
recommendations can end up seeming, to some, disappointingly generic. In any
case, the complex and decentralized nature of scientific decision-making sometimes
makes it difficult to see how these deliberations actually make a concrete difference
on policy. The results of a new public engagement exercise on the subject of
nanotechnology for healthcare, carried out in the UK, directly address some of these
criticisms and offer surprising and enlightening insights into potential public
reactions to some of the predicted applications of nanotechnology in medicine.
http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/v3/n10/full/nnano.2008.288.html
October 9, 2008
Examine the Medical Nanotechnology Markets
London -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report related to
the Pharmaceutical industry is available in its catalogue.
Nanotechnology has reached critical mass. Nowhere is this more evident than in
medicine. Rising medical costs, demands for less-invasive procedures and pressures
for immediate feedback of medical conditions, all point to nanotechnology as offering
a new approach in healthcare. According to U.S. National Science Foundation
estimates, by 2015 the annual global market for nano-related goods and services will
top $1 trillion, thus making it one of the fastest-growing industries in history.
Assuming that these figures prove to be accurate, nanotechnology will emerge as a
larger economic force than the combined telecommunications and information
technology industries at the beginning of the technology boom of the late 1990s.
This TriMark Publications report covers the specific segments of the medical
nanotechnology markets, with particular emphasis on those segments where this
emerging technology is or shows the potential to be most impactful.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/examine-medical-nanotechnologymarkets/story.aspx?guid=%7B6FA0C83B-C285-4381-AA631E66A76AF600%7D&dist=hppr
October 8, 2008
Nanotechnology could kill small farmers
Davao City -- Despite the many benefits of nanotechnology on electronics, medicines,
and foods, a non-government organization is now seeing the pains such technology
could bring.
In the field of nano agriculture, it is believed that it could hurt small-scale farmers
who supply the world with small-scale raw materials.
ETC Group or the Action Group on Erosion, Technology, and Concentration executive
director Pat Mooney, in his briefing with members of the Davao media, Mooney
shared the impacts it could cause the world especially those in the Third World.
With the advent of nanotechnology or the manipulation of matter at the level of
atoms and molecules, ETC has seen how such technology would change every step of
the food chain as well as the people involved in the process.
Mooney explained that the highly-developed countries lead the world market,
however, they still recognize and get raw materials from other countries like the Third
World.
But with nanotechnology, where the power and manipulation is at the hands of the
scientifically-advanced, the group is seeing a rapid change in the world's economy.
http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&r=&y=&mo=&fi=p081008.htm&no=02
October 14, 2008
Nanotechnology gets practical
You know, nanotechnology, the science of manipulating the atomic structure of
materials on a scale of a nanometer (one billionth of a meter)? The emerging science
that captured the media’s imagination about a decade ago with visions of
supercomputers mounted in wristwatches and X-ray machines that hang from your
doctor’s neck like a stethoscope ... and then scuttled back into the laboratory for a
prolonged reality check?
Well there’s finally something that nanotechnology can do for you — or, better, help
you do for yourself, at your own home, with your own hands, at a price you can afford.
While many of nanotech’s flashy gadgets and futuristic technologies remain in the
research and development phase, a more mundane but — in this era of global
climate change and energy shortages — perhaps more important product has
emerged from the labs.
That product is called “Nansulate,” a paint-on insulation with an extremely low
thermal conductivity value. Patented and manufactured by Industrial Nanotech Inc.,
Nansulate suspends specially engineered microscopic particles with nano-scale
internal architecture in an acrylic resin, which is in turn suspended in water (similar
to thick, acrylic-based paint). Nansulate is designed to be nontoxic and
environmentally friendly, and because the microparticles are water-repellant, it is
also an effective mold and rust inhibitor.
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2008/10/14/weekly_features/health/100hs_08
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