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Nanotechnology
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|
WIKIMAG n. 9 - Agosto 2013
Nanotechnology
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Nanotechnology (sometimes shortened to "nanotech") is
the manipulation of matter on an
atomic and
molecular scale. The earliest, widespread description of
nanotechnology[1][2]
referred to the particular technological goal of precisely manipulating
atoms and molecules for fabrication of macroscale products, also now
referred to as
molecular nanotechnology. A more generalized description of
nanotechnology was subsequently established by the
National Nanotechnology Initiative, which defines nanotechnology as
the manipulation of matter with at least one dimension sized from 1 to
100
nanometers. This definition reflects the fact that
quantum mechanical effects are important at this
quantum-realm scale, and so the definition shifted from a particular
technological goal to a research category inclusive of all types of
research and technologies that deal with the special properties of
matter that occur below the given size threshold. It is therefore common
to see the plural form "nanotechnologies" as well as "nanoscale
technologies" to refer to the broad range of research and applications
whose common trait is size. Because of the variety of potential
applications (including industrial and military), governments have
invested billions of dollars in nanotechnology research. Through its
National Nanotechnology Initiative, the USA has invested 3.7 billion
dollars. The European Union has invested 1.2 billion and Japan 750
million dollars.[3]
Nanotechnology as defined by size is naturally very broad, including
fields of science as diverse as
surface science,
organic chemistry,
molecular biology,
semiconductor physics,
microfabrication, etc.[4]
The associated research and applications are equally diverse, ranging
from extensions of conventional
device physics to completely new approaches based upon
molecular self-assembly, from developing
new materials with dimensions on the nanoscale to
direct control of matter on the atomic scale.
Scientists currently debate the future
implications of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology may be able to create
many new materials and devices with a vast range of
applications, such as in
medicine,
electronics,
biomaterials and energy production. On the other hand,
nanotechnology raises many of the same issues as any new technology,
including concerns about the
toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials,[5]
and their potential effects on global economics, as well as speculation
about various
doomsday scenarios. These concerns have led to a debate among
advocacy groups and governments on whether special
regulation of nanotechnology is warranted.
Origins
The concepts that seeded nanotechnology were first discussed in 1959
by renowned physicist
Richard Feynman in his talk
There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom, in which he described the
possibility of synthesis via direct manipulation of atoms. The term
"nano-technology" was first used by
Norio Taniguchi in 1974, though it was not widely known.
Inspired by Feynman's concepts,
K. Eric Drexler independently used the term "nanotechnology" in his
1986 book
Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology, which
proposed the idea of a nanoscale "assembler" which would be able to
build a copy of itself and of other items of arbitrary complexity with
atomic control. Also in 1986, Drexler co-founded
The Foresight Institute (with which he is no longer affiliated) to
help increase public awareness and understanding of nanotechnology
concepts and implications.
Thus, emergence of nanotechnology as a field in the 1980s occurred
through convergence of Drexler's theoretical and public work, which
developed and popularized a conceptual framework for nanotechnology, and
high-visibility experimental advances that drew additional wide-scale
attention to the prospects of atomic control of matter.
For example, the invention of the
scanning tunneling microscope in 1981 provided unprecedented
visualization of individual atoms and bonds, and was successfully used
to manipulate individual atoms in 1989. The microscope's developers
Gerd Binnig and
Heinrich Rohrer at
IBM Zurich Research Laboratory received a
Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986.[6][7]
Binnig,
Quate and Gerber also invented the analogous
atomic force microscope that year.
Buckminsterfullerene C 60, also known as the
buckyball, is a representative member of the
carbon structures known as
fullerenes. Members of the fullerene family are a major
subject of research falling under the nanotechnology
umbrella.
Fullerenes were discovered in 1985 by
Harry Kroto,
Richard Smalley, and
Robert Curl, who together won the 1996
Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[8][9]
C60 was not initially described as nanotechnology; the term
was used regarding subsequent work with related
graphene tubes (called
carbon nanotubes and sometimes called Bucky tubes) which suggested
potential applications for nanoscale electronics and devices.
In the early 2000s, the field garnered increased scientific,
political, and commercial attention that led to both controversy and
progress. Controversies emerged regarding the definitions and potential
implications of nanotechnologies, exemplified by the
Royal Society's report on nanotechnology.[10]
Challenges were raised regarding the feasibility of applications
envisioned by advocates of molecular nanotechnology, which culminated in
a public debate between Drexler and Smalley in 2001 and 2003.[11]
Meanwhile, commercialization of products based on advancements in
nanoscale technologies began emerging. These products are limited to
bulk applications of
nanomaterials and do not involve atomic control of matter. Some
examples include the
Silver Nano platform for using
silver nanoparticles as an antibacterial agent,
nanoparticle-based transparent sunscreens, and
carbon nanotubes for stain-resistant textiles.[12][13]
Governments moved to promote and
fund research into nanotechnology, beginning in the U.S. with the
National Nanotechnology Initiative, which formalized a size-based
definition of nanotechnology and established funding for research on the
nanoscale.
By the mid-2000s new and serious scientific attention began to
flourish. Projects emerged to produce nanotechnology roadmaps[14][15]
which center on atomically precise manipulation of matter and discuss
existing and projected capabilities, goals, and applications.
Fundamental
concepts
Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at the
molecular scale. This covers both current work and concepts that are
more advanced. In its original sense, nanotechnology refers to the
projected ability to construct items from the bottom up, using
techniques and tools being developed today to make complete, high
performance products.
One
nanometer (nm) is one billionth, or 10−9, of a meter. By
comparison, typical carbon-carbon
bond lengths, or the spacing between these
atoms in a
molecule, are in the range 0.12–0.15 nm,
and a DNA
double-helix has a diameter around 2 nm. On the other hand, the smallest
cellular life-forms, the bacteria of the genus
Mycoplasma, are around 200 nm in length. By convention,
nanotechnology is taken as the scale range 1 to 100
nm following the definition used by the National Nanotechnology
Initiative in the US. The lower limit is set by the size of atoms
(hydrogen has the smallest atoms, which are approximately a quarter of a
nm diameter) since nanotechnology must build its devices from atoms and
molecules. The upper limit is more or less arbitrary but is around the
size that phenomena not observed in larger structures start to become
apparent and can be made use of in the nano device.[16]
These new phenomena make nanotechnology distinct from devices which are
merely miniaturised versions of an equivalent
macroscopic device; such devices are on a larger scale and come
under the description of
microtechnology.[17]
To put that scale in another context, the comparative size of a
nanometer to a meter is the same as that of a marble to the size of the
earth.[18]
Or another way of putting it: a nanometer is the amount an average man's
beard grows in the time it takes him to raise the razor to his face.[18]
Two main approaches are used in nanotechnology. In the "bottom-up"
approach, materials and devices are built from molecular components
which
assemble themselves chemically by principles of
molecular recognition. In the "top-down" approach, nano-objects are
constructed from larger entities without atomic-level control.[19]
Areas of physics such as
nanoelectronics,
nanomechanics,
nanophotonics and
nanoionics have evolved during the last few decades to provide a
basic scientific foundation of nanotechnology.
Larger to smaller: a materials perspective
Main article:
Nanomaterials
Several phenomena become pronounced as the size of the system
decreases. These include
statistical mechanical effects, as well as
quantum mechanical effects, for example the “quantum
size effect” where the electronic properties of solids are altered with
great reductions in particle size. This effect does not come into play
by going from macro to micro dimensions. However, quantum effects can
become significant when the nanometer size range is reached, typically
at distances of 100 nanometers or less, the so-called
quantum realm. Additionally, a number of physical (mechanical,
electrical, optical, etc.) properties change when compared to
macroscopic systems. One example is the increase in surface area to
volume ratio altering mechanical, thermal and catalytic properties of
materials. Diffusion and reactions at nanoscale, nanostructures
materials and nanodevices with fast ion transport are generally referred
to nanoionics. Mechanical properties of nanosystems are of
interest in the nanomechanics research. The catalytic activity of
nanomaterials also opens potential risks in their interaction with
biomaterials.
Materials reduced to the nanoscale can show different properties
compared to what they exhibit on a macroscale, enabling unique
applications. For instance, opaque substances can become transparent
(copper); stable materials can turn combustible (aluminum); insoluble
materials may become soluble (gold). A material such as gold, which is
chemically inert at normal scales, can serve as a potent chemical
catalyst at nanoscales. Much of the fascination with nanotechnology
stems from these quantum and surface phenomena that matter exhibits at
the nanoscale.[20]
Simple to complex: a molecular perspective
Modern
synthetic chemistry has reached the point where it is possible to
prepare small molecules to almost any structure. These methods are used
today to manufacture a wide variety of useful chemicals such as
pharmaceuticals
or commercial
polymers.
This ability raises the question of extending this kind of control to
the next-larger level, seeking methods to assemble these single
molecules into
supramolecular assemblies consisting of many molecules arranged in a
well defined manner.
These approaches utilize the concepts of molecular self-assembly
and/or
supramolecular chemistry to automatically arrange themselves into
some useful conformation through a
bottom-up approach. The concept of molecular recognition is
especially important: molecules can be designed so that a specific
configuration or arrangement is favored due to
non-covalent
intermolecular forces. The Watson–Crick
basepairing rules are a direct result of this, as is the specificity
of an
enzyme being targeted to a single
substrate, or the specific
folding of the protein itself. Thus, two or more components can be
designed to be complementary and mutually attractive so that they make a
more complex and useful whole.
Such bottom-up approaches should be capable of producing devices in
parallel and be much cheaper than top-down methods, but could
potentially be overwhelmed as the size and complexity of the desired
assembly increases. Most useful structures require complex and
thermodynamically unlikely arrangements of atoms. Nevertheless, there
are many examples of self-assembly based on molecular recognition in
biology,
most notably Watson–Crick basepairing and enzyme-substrate interactions.
The challenge for nanotechnology is whether these principles can be used
to engineer new constructs in addition to natural ones.
Molecular nanotechnology: a long-term view
Molecular nanotechnology, sometimes called molecular manufacturing,
describes engineered nanosystems (nanoscale machines) operating on the
molecular scale. Molecular nanotechnology is especially associated with
the
molecular assembler, a machine that can produce a desired structure
or device atom-by-atom using the principles of
mechanosynthesis. Manufacturing in the context of
productive nanosystems is not related to, and should be clearly
distinguished from, the conventional technologies used to manufacture
nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and nanoparticles.
When the term "nanotechnology" was independently coined and
popularized by
Eric Drexler (who at the time was unaware of an
earlier usage by Norio Taniguchi) it referred to a future
manufacturing technology based on
molecular machine systems. The premise was that molecular scale
biological analogies of traditional machine components demonstrated
molecular machines were possible: by the countless examples found in
biology, it is known that sophisticated,
stochastically optimised biological machines can be produced.
It is hoped that developments in nanotechnology will make possible
their construction by some other means, perhaps using
biomimetic principles. However, Drexler and other researchers[21]
have proposed that advanced nanotechnology, although perhaps initially
implemented by biomimetic means, ultimately could be based on mechanical
engineering principles, namely, a manufacturing technology based on the
mechanical functionality of these components (such as gears, bearings,
motors, and structural members) that would enable programmable,
positional assembly to atomic specification.[22]
The physics and engineering performance of exemplar designs were
analyzed in Drexler's book Nanosystems.
In general it is very difficult to assemble devices on the atomic
scale, as one has to position atoms on other atoms of comparable size
and stickiness. Another view, put forth by Carlo Montemagno,[23]
is that future nanosystems will be hybrids of silicon technology and
biological molecular machines. Richard Smalley argued that
mechanosynthesis are impossible due to the difficulties in mechanically
manipulating individual molecules.
This led to an exchange of letters in the
ACS publication
Chemical & Engineering News in 2003.[24]
Though biology clearly demonstrates that molecular machine systems are
possible, non-biological molecular machines are today only in their
infancy. Leaders in research on non-biological molecular machines are
Dr.
Alex Zettl and his colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories and
UC Berkeley. They have constructed at least three distinct molecular
devices whose motion is controlled from the desktop with changing
voltage: a nanotube
nanomotor, a molecular actuator,[25]
and a nanoelectromechanical relaxation oscillator.[26]
See
nanotube nanomotor for more examples.
An experiment indicating that positional molecular assembly is
possible was performed by Ho and Lee at
Cornell University in 1999. They used a scanning tunneling
microscope to move an individual carbon monoxide molecule (CO) to an
individual iron atom (Fe) sitting on a flat silver crystal, and
chemically bound the CO to the Fe by applying a voltage.
Current research
Graphical representation of a
rotaxane, useful as a molecular switch.
This DNA tetrahedron [27]
is an artificially
designed nanostructure of the type made in the field of
DNA nanotechnology. Each edge of the tetrahedron is a 20
base pair DNA
double helix, and each vertex is a three-arm junction.
This device transfers energy from nano-thin layers of
quantum wells to
nanocrystals above them, causing the nanocrystals to
emit visible light. [28]
Nanomaterials
The nanomaterials field includes subfields which develop or study
materials having unique properties arising from their nanoscale
dimensions.[29]
-
Interface and colloid science has given rise to many materials
which may be useful in nanotechnology, such as carbon nanotubes and
other fullerenes, and various nanoparticles and
nanorods. Nanomaterials with fast ion transport are related also
to nanoionics and nanoelectronics.
- Nanoscale materials can also be used for bulk applications; most
present commercial applications of nanotechnology are of this
flavor.
- Progress has been made in using these materials for medical
applications; see
Nanomedicine.
- Nanoscale materials are sometimes used in
solar cells which combats the cost of traditional
Silicon solar cells.
- Development of applications incorporating semiconductor
nanoparticles to be used in the next generation of products,
such as display technology, lighting, solar cells and biological
imaging; see
quantum dots.
Bottom-up
approaches
These seek to arrange smaller components into more complex
assemblies.
- DNA nanotechnology utilizes the specificity of Watson–Crick
basepairing to construct well-defined structures out of DNA and
other
nucleic acids.
- Approaches from the field of "classical" chemical synthesis (inorganic
and
organic synthesis) also aim at designing molecules with
well-defined shape (e.g.
bis-peptides[30]).
- More generally, molecular self-assembly seeks to use concepts of
supramolecular chemistry, and molecular recognition in particular,
to cause single-molecule components to automatically arrange
themselves into some useful conformation.
-
Atomic force microscope tips can be used as a nanoscale "write
head" to deposit a chemical upon a surface in a desired pattern in a
process called
dip pen nanolithography. This technique fits into the larger
subfield of
nanolithography.
Top-down
approaches
These seek to create smaller devices by using larger ones to direct
their assembly.
Functional
approaches
These seek to develop components of a desired functionality without
regard to how they might be assembled.
Biomimetic
approaches
-
Bionics or
biomimicry seeks to apply biological methods and systems found
in nature, to the study and design of engineering systems and modern
technology.
Biomineralization is one example of the systems studied.
Speculative
These subfields seek to
anticipate what inventions nanotechnology might yield, or attempt to
propose an agenda along which inquiry might progress. These often take a
big-picture view of nanotechnology, with more emphasis on its societal
implications than the details of how such inventions could actually be
created.
- Molecular nanotechnology is a proposed approach which involves
manipulating single molecules in finely controlled, deterministic
ways. This is more theoretical than the other subfields, and many of
its proposed techniques are beyond current capabilities.
-
Nanorobotics centers on self-sufficient machines of some
functionality operating at the nanoscale. There are hopes for
applying nanorobots in medicine,[36][37][38]
but it may not be easy to do such a thing because of several
drawbacks of such devices.[39]
Nevertheless, progress on innovative materials and methodologies has
been demonstrated with some patents granted about new
nanomanufacturing devices for future commercial applications, which
also progressively helps in the development towards nanorobots with
the use of embedded nanobioelectronics concepts.[40][41]
- Productive nanosystems are "systems of nanosystems" which will
be complex nanosystems that produce atomically precise parts for
other nanosystems, not necessarily using novel nanoscale-emergent
properties, but well-understood fundamentals of manufacturing.
Because of the discrete (i.e. atomic) nature of matter and the
possibility of exponential growth, this stage is seen as the basis
of another industrial revolution.
Mihail Roco, one of the architects of the USA's National
Nanotechnology Initiative, has proposed four states of
nanotechnology that seem to parallel the technical progress of the
Industrial Revolution, progressing from passive nanostructures to
active nanodevices to complex
nanomachines and ultimately to productive nanosystems.[42]
-
Programmable matter seeks to design materials whose properties
can be easily, reversibly and externally controlled though a fusion
of
information science and
materials science.
- Due to the popularity and media exposure of the term
nanotechnology, the words
picotechnology and
femtotechnology have been coined in analogy to it, although
these are only used rarely and informally.
Tools and
techniques
Typical
AFM setup. A microfabricated
cantilever with a sharp tip is deflected by features on
a sample surface, much like in a
phonograph but on a much smaller scale. A
laser beam reflects off the backside of the cantilever
into a set of
photodetectors, allowing the deflection to be measured
and assembled into an image of the surface.
There are several important modern developments. The atomic force
microscope (AFM) and the
Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) are two early versions of
scanning probes that launched nanotechnology. There are other types of
scanning probe microscopy. Although conceptually similar to the
scanning
confocal microscope developed by
Marvin Minsky in 1961 and the
scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) developed by
Calvin Quate and coworkers in the 1970s, newer scanning probe
microscopes have much higher resolution, since they are not limited by
the wavelength of sound or light.
The tip of a scanning probe can also be used to manipulate
nanostructures (a process called positional assembly).
Feature-oriented scanning methodology suggested by Rostislav Lapshin
appears to be a promising way to implement these nanomanipulations in
automatic mode.[43][44]
However, this is still a slow process because of low scanning velocity
of the microscope.
Various techniques of nanolithography such as
optical lithography,
X-ray lithography dip pen nanolithography,
electron beam lithography or
nanoimprint lithography were also developed. Lithography is a
top-down fabrication technique where a bulk material is reduced in size
to nanoscale pattern.
Another group of nanotechnological techniques include those used for
fabrication of
nanotubes and
nanowires, those used in semiconductor fabrication such as deep
ultraviolet lithography, electron beam lithography, focused ion beam
machining, nanoimprint lithography, atomic layer deposition, and
molecular vapor deposition, and further including molecular
self-assembly techniques such as those employing di-block copolymers.
The precursors of these techniques preceded the nanotech era, and are
extensions in the development of scientific advancements rather than
techniques which were devised with the sole purpose of creating
nanotechnology and which were results of nanotechnology research.
The top-down approach anticipates nanodevices that must be built
piece by piece in stages, much as manufactured items are made. Scanning
probe microscopy is an important technique both for characterization and
synthesis of nanomaterials. Atomic force microscopes and scanning
tunneling microscopes can be used to look at surfaces and to move atoms
around. By designing different tips for these microscopes, they can be
used for carving out structures on surfaces and to help guide
self-assembling structures. By using, for example, feature-oriented
scanning approach, atoms or molecules can be moved around on a surface
with scanning probe microscopy techniques.[43][44]
At present, it is expensive and time-consuming for mass production but
very suitable for laboratory experimentation.
In contrast, bottom-up techniques build or grow larger structures
atom by atom or molecule by molecule. These techniques include chemical
synthesis,
self-assembly and positional assembly.
Dual polarisation interferometry is one tool suitable for
characterisation of self assembled thin films. Another variation of the
bottom-up approach is
molecular beam epitaxy or MBE. Researchers at
Bell Telephone Laboratories like John R. Arthur. Alfred Y. Cho, and
Art C. Gossard developed and implemented MBE as a research tool in the
late 1960s and 1970s. Samples made by MBE were key to the discovery of
the fractional quantum Hall effect for which the 1998 Nobel Prize in
Physics was awarded. MBE allows scientists to lay down atomically
precise layers of atoms and, in the process, build up complex
structures. Important for research on semiconductors, MBE is also widely
used to make samples and devices for the newly emerging field of
spintronics.
However, new therapeutic products, based on responsive nanomaterials,
such as the ultradeformable, stress-sensitive
Transfersome vesicles, are under development and already approved
for human use in some countries.[citation
needed]
Applications
One of the major applications of nanotechnology is in the
area of nanoelectronics with
MOSFET's being made of small
nanowires ~10 nm in length. Here is a simulation of such
a nanowire.
As of August 21, 2008, the
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies estimates that over 800
manufacturer-identified nanotech products are publicly available, with
new ones hitting the market at a pace of 3–4 per week.[13]
The project lists all of the products in a publicly accessible online
database. Most applications are limited to the use of "first generation"
passive nanomaterials which includes titanium dioxide in sunscreen,
cosmetics, surface coatings,[45]
and some food products; Carbon allotropes used to produce
gecko tape; silver in food packaging, clothing, disinfectants and
household appliances; zinc oxide in sunscreens and cosmetics, surface
coatings, paints and outdoor furniture varnishes; and cerium oxide as a
fuel catalyst.[12]
Further applications allow
tennis balls to last longer,
golf
balls to fly straighter, and even
bowling balls to become more durable and have a harder surface.
Trousers and
socks have been infused with nanotechnology so that they will last
longer and keep people cool in the summer.
Bandages
are being infused with silver nanoparticles to heal cuts faster.[46]
Cars are being manufactured with
nanomaterials so they may need fewer
metals
and less fuel
to operate in the future.[47]
Video game consoles and
personal computers may become cheaper, faster, and contain more
memory thanks to nanotechnology.[48]
Nanotechnology may have the ability to make existing medical
applications cheaper and easier to use in places like the
general practitioner's office and at home.[49]
The
National Science Foundation (a major distributor for nanotechnology
research in the United States) funded researcher David Berube to study
the field of nanotechnology. His findings are published in the monograph
Nano-Hype: The Truth Behind the Nanotechnology Buzz. This study
concludes that much of what is sold as “nanotechnology” is in fact a
recasting of straightforward materials science, which is leading to a
“nanotech industry built solely on selling nanotubes, nanowires, and the
like” which will “end up with a few suppliers selling low margin
products in huge volumes." Further applications which require actual
manipulation or arrangement of nanoscale components await further
research. Though technologies branded with the term 'nano' are sometimes
little related to and fall far short of the most ambitious and
transformative technological goals of the sort in molecular
manufacturing proposals, the term still connotes such ideas. According
to Berube, there may be a danger that a "nano bubble" will form, or is
forming already, from the use of the term by scientists and
entrepreneurs to garner funding, regardless of interest in the
transformative possibilities of more ambitious and far-sighted work.[50]
Implications
An area of concern is the effect that industrial-scale manufacturing
and use of nanomaterials would have on human health and the environment,
as suggested by
nanotoxicology research. For these reasons, some groups advocate
that nanotechnology be regulated by governments. Others counter that
overregulation would stifle scientific research and the development of
beneficial innovations.
Public health research agencies, such as the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are actively
conducting research on potential health effects stemming from exposures
to nanoparticles.[51][52]
Some nanoparticle products may have
unintended consequences. Researchers have discovered that
bacteriostatic silver nanoparticles used in socks to reduce foot
odor are being released in the wash.[53]
These particles are then flushed into the waste water stream and may
destroy bacteria which are critical components of natural ecosystems,
farms, and waste treatment processes.[54]
Public deliberations on
risk perception in the US and UK carried out by the Center for
Nanotechnology in Society found that participants were more positive
about nanotechnologies for energy applications than for health
applications, with health applications raising moral and ethical
dilemmas such as cost and availability.[55]
Experts, including director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Project on
Emerging Nanotechnologies David Rejeski, have testified[56]
that successful commercialization depends on adequate oversight, risk
research strategy, and public engagement.
Berkeley, California is currently the only city in the United States
to regulate nanotechnology;[57]
Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2008 considered enacting a similar law,[58]
but ultimately rejected it.[59]
Relevant for both research on and application of nanotechnologies, the
insurability of nanotechnology is contested.[60]
Without state
regulation of nanotechnology, the availability of private insurance
for potential damages is seen as necessary to ensure that burdens are
not socialised implicitly.
Health and environmental concerns
Researchers have found that when rats breathed in nanoparticles, the
particles settled in the brain and lungs, which led to significant
increases in biomarkers for inflammation and stress response[61]
and that nanoparticles induce skin aging through oxidative stress in
hairless mice.[62][63]
A two-year study at UCLA's School of Public Health found lab mice
consuming nano-titanium dioxide showed DNA and chromosome damage to a
degree "linked to all the big killers of man, namely cancer, heart
disease, neurological disease and aging".[64]
A major study published more recently in
Nature Nanotechnology suggests some forms of carbon nanotubes – a
poster child for the “nanotechnology revolution” – could be as harmful
as
asbestos if inhaled in sufficient quantities.
Anthony Seaton of the Institute of Occupational Medicine in
Edinburgh, Scotland, who contributed to the article on
carbon nanotubes said "We know that some of them probably have the
potential to cause mesothelioma. So those sorts of materials need to be
handled very carefully."[65]
In the absence of specific regulation forthcoming from governments,
Paull and Lyons (2008) have called for an exclusion of engineered
nanoparticles in food.[66]
A newspaper article reports that workers in a paint factory developed
serious lung disease and nanoparticles were found in their lungs.[67]
Extremely small fibers, so called nanofibers, can be as harmful for
the lungs
as
asbestos is. This scientists warn for in the publication "Toxicology
Sciences" after experiments with mice. Nanofibers are used in
several areas and in different products, in everything from aircraft
wings to tennis rackets. In experiments the scientists have seen how
mice breathed nanofibers of
silver.
Fibers larger than 5 micrometer were
capsuled in the lungs where they caused inflammations[68][69]
(a precursor for cancer[70]
like
mesothelioma).[68]
Regulation
Calls for tighter regulation of nanotechnology have occurred
alongside a growing debate related to the human health and safety risks
of nanotechnology.[71]
There is significant debate about who is responsible for the regulation
of nanotechnology. Some regulatory agencies currently cover some
nanotechnology products and processes (to varying degrees) – by “bolting
on” nanotechnology to existing regulations – there are clear gaps in
these regimes.[72]
Davies (2008) has proposed a regulatory road map describing steps to
deal with these shortcomings.[73]
Stakeholders concerned by the lack of a regulatory framework to
assess and control risks associated with the release of nanoparticles
and nanotubes have drawn parallels with
bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow" disease),
thalidomide, genetically modified food,[74]
nuclear energy, reproductive technologies, biotechnology, and
asbestosis. Dr. Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor to the Woodrow
Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, concludes that
there is insufficient funding for human health and safety research, and
as a result there is currently limited understanding of the human health
and safety risks associated with nanotechnology.[75]
As a result, some academics have called for stricter application of the
precautionary principle, with delayed marketing approval, enhanced
labelling and additional safety data development requirements in
relation to certain forms of nanotechnology.[76]
The Royal Society report[10]
identified a risk of nanoparticles or nanotubes being released during
disposal, destruction and recycling, and recommended that “manufacturers
of products that fall under extended producer responsibility regimes
such as end-of-life regulations publish procedures outlining how these
materials will be managed to minimize possible human and environmental
exposure” (p. xiii). Reflecting the challenges for ensuring responsible
life cycle regulation, the
Institute for Food and Agricultural Standards has proposed that
standards for nanotechnology research and development should be
integrated across consumer, worker and environmental standards. They
also propose that
NGOs and other citizen groups play a meaningful role in the
development of these standards.
The Center for Nanotechnology in Society has found that people
respond differently to nanotechnologies based upon application – with
participants in
public deliberations more positive about nanotechnologies for energy
than health applications – suggesting that any public calls for nano
regulations may differ by technology sector.[55]
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