Nanotechnology
Sara Falconer
It might still sound a bit like science fiction, but nanotechnology is here, and it's being increasingly used in consumer products - despite the fact that we don't yet understand all of the potential health and environmental implications. Could your nano-enhanced sunscreen be toxic?These tiny, man-made particles, invisible to the naked eye, are widely used in microelectronics, and have also begun appearing in cosmetics, textiles, clothing, food additives, rubber products, adhesives and paints. New research is developing medical sensors and drug delivery systems at this molecular scale as well.
"We're at kind of a turning point right now," says Dr. Shane Journeay, CEO of Nanotechnology Toxicology Consulting & Training (NTC&T) in Halifax. "Nano-materials are being produced at such a rapid pace that it would be almost impossible to test them all with a full-scale battery of tests." NTC&T estimates that there are 800 products using nanotech on the market, and early studies have indicated the toxicity of some nanoparticles in mice and aquatic organisms.
Elements that are benign in their larger format could have new, potentially dangerous properties when nano-sized, explains Dr. Ashkan Golshani, an associate professor in molecular genetics in the department of biology at Carleton.
"In the case of consumer health, one of the major issues we have to consider is that these tiny pieces could be getting into our bodies, could potentially attach to our cells, could potentially touch our DNA," he
says. "Just like any new product that's coming into the market, there are tests that need to be done."Existing regulatory agencies are ill-equipped to fully cope with the risk assessment and oversight of advancing nanotechnology, but Health Canada and Environment Canada are taking the first steps.
"Canada is the first country to require anybody who manufactured or imported over one kilogram of nano-material to report toxicology and other data," says Dr. Sean Barry, a specialist in nanotechnology at Carleton's chemistry department.
Hopes and fears around nanotech tend to run extreme, from speculation that it can offer advanced cancer treatments to "grey goo," an end-of-the-world scenario in which self-replicating nano-robots consume all matter on Earth. But each of these scientists is calling for a more balanced approach to the issue. "Frankly, I think that consumers are more in danger of believing overhyped promises of nanotechnology than they are to suffer health effects," says Barry.
"I'm not saying it's all bad, we have to stop,'" adds Journeay, who will be completing a book on this subject in the fall. "I think we should use science to implement it in a safe manner so that people can reap the benefits."
