There is still more ignorance than knowledge
Nanotechnology is already here and used in hundreds of everyday products
from food packaging to computer keyboards.
The manipulation of materials on a nano-scale (a nanometre is a millonth of
a millimetre or about one eighty thousandth the size of a human hair),
enables them to take on new properties compared to their larger form. For
example, UV filters used in suncreens produced in tiny nano form become
clear rather than white when compared to their larger form.
But away from the buzz of excitement that often surrounds a new technology
there have been real concerns about the risk and hazards these new materials
present to both humans and the environment. The early criticism from NGOs
has focused not necessarily on the technology itself but the ways in which
it is being used and the lack of government regulation and risk assessment.
Much of that concern still remains. A new report from
Landmark Europe,
a PR agency, surveyed stakeholders across the EU and found that knowledge
and understanding of nanotechnology even amongst well-informed groups was
low. There was scepticism about the current regulations and support for
tougher labelling rules on products that were ingested or applied to the
body, i.e. food, drink, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Untested
A
Friends of the Earth report last year found that untested nanotechnology
was being used in more than 100 food products and packaging including;
nutritional supplements, flavour and colour additives, cling wrap and
chemicals used in agriculture. It said existing regulations in the US did
not require testing or labelling for nanomaterials when they were created
from existing approved chemicals, despite major differences in potential
toxicity.
'Nanotechnology can be very dangerous when used in food,' said report
co-author Dr Rye Senjen. 'Early scientific evidence indicates that some
nanomaterials produce free radicals which destroy or mutate DNA and can
cause damage to the liver and kidneys.'
There have also been
strong
concerns expressed about the widespread use of nanosilver and the use of
nanotechnologies in suncreen.
Suncreen manufacturers are adding nanoparticles to make sun-blocking
ingredients like titanium dioxide and zonc oxide rub on clear instead of
white. These nanoparticles can pass through human skin into the blood stream
and then enter the brain, heart or liver. No-one fully understands yet what,
if any, impact they will have once inside the human body.
Nanosilver
In the case of nanosilver the concern from NGOs is that silver, a useful
anti-bacterial agent, once scaled to nano size is far more potent. But
again, researchers don't know enough about the effect that potency can have
on human health.
Despite the concerns, nanosilver has still become one of the most commonly
used nanomaterials in consumer products, predominately as a bactericide in
kitchen crockery, cosmetics and even children’s toys.
'Major corporations are putting nano-silver into a wide variety of consumer
products with virtually no oversight, and there are potentially serious
health consequences as a result,' said Friends of the Earth health
campaigner Ian Illuminato.
Silent debate
Despite the significant potential of nanotechnology the public debate has
actually been rather quiet. The UK has been running a rather low-key
public
consultation in advance of a planned strategy in February 2010. NGOs and
academics worry that the lack of knowledge, as shown by the Landmark Europe
survey, is allowing nanotechnology to spread without the necessary
regulation.
In addition, they see that safe or positive technologies such as the use of
nanosilver as coatings for medical devices or as wound care for severe burns
victims are already getting tarnished by what is being perceived as poor
regulation.
'As always the regulation is trailing behind the knowledge,' said Professor
Howard. 'We've never been exposed to these types of nano particles with high
atomic numbers (metals like nanosilver) so we don't yet know all the hazards
which we're researching.
'I don't think we should expose the whole world to something and then
release later that we shouldn't have. Some of the hazards may be illusionary
but some may not,' he added.
GMWatch co-editor Claire Robinson agreed. 'The industries that are already
using nanotechnology, for example, in food, packaging and cosmetics, are way
ahead of the regulators. It’s likely that we are storing up problems for the
future by prematurely implementing a technology we know so little about,'
she said.
'Members of the public who know about GM often haven’t heard of
nanotechnology. But just as with GM, the application of nanotechnology is
racing ahead of the health and safety research, which is still in its
infancy,' she said.
However, Professor Howard pointed out, unlike GM, there was already a
substantial body of research about the hazards of small particles on human
health. 'They're defiantly more engaged in the debate than the GM crowd were
but then this is research that couldn't just be sidestepped,' he said.
EU gets tough?
While the technology may be ahead of the research there are indications
that, at a European level at least, there is a willingness to take a tough
stance.
In what Green MEP Caroline Lucas called a 'radical departure' from previous
positions, the European Parliament voted in March 2009 to introduce new
rules on nanomaterials in cosmetics. Any cosmetic containing nanomaterials
will have to list the ingredient on product packaging, followed by the word
‘nano’ in brackets.
But labelling on its own is not enough. What campaigners and scientists like
Professor Howard want is tougher regulation from policymakers.
Safety warning
Earlier this year, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) warned that
current toxicological tests on nanomaterials used in food products and
packaging were inadaquate.
EFSA also pointed out that the current risk assessments were, ‘likely to be
subject to a high degree of uncertainty’, and called for more research on
the toxicity of nanoparticles in the body.
'In the absence of proper safety regulations, consumers are being left in
the dark about the products they are consuming and are unknowingly putting
their health and the environment at risk,' said Friends of the Earth’s
Senior Food Campaigner, Clare Oxborrow.
'Europeans should not be exposed to potentially toxic materials in their
food and food packaging until proper regulations are in place to ensure
their safety.
'Policy-makers must stop claiming that existing regulatory frameworks are
adequate to deal with the emerging science of nanotechnology and urgently
address the gaps in food safety laws,' she said.