"Nano, Nano"

SUMMARY: EPA is proposing significant new use rules (SNURs) under
section 5(a)(2) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for two
chemical substances which were the subject of premanufacture notices.
The two substances are identified generically as multi-walled carbon
nanotubes (P-08-177) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (P-08-328).
These substances are subject to TSCA section 5(e) consent orders issued
by EPA. The consent orders require protective measures to limit
exposures or otherwise mitigate the potential unreasonable risk.

Link to document: http:
//www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=0900006480a52a30

Posted on November 2, 2009 by John C. Monica, Jr.

This article was originally published by the National Nanomanufacturing Network's "InterNano" project (www.internano.com). It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.

A recent study published in the well-known medical journal, the European Respiratory Journal, has been receiving significant publicity as the authors have claimed their findings support an apparent linkage between workplace exposures to nanoparticles and severe respiratory disease. Specifically, in this study, investigators at China's Capital University of Medical Science related unusual and progressive lung disease in seven Chinese workers, two of whom died, to nanoparticle exposures in a print plant where a polyacrylic ester paste containing nanoparticles was used. This linkage was made by the study investigators despite a general lack of exposure data for the workers.

Additional information : http://www.nanolawreport.com/articles/toxicity-1/

30 October 2009
Behind the Label: nanosilver - The Ecologist, UK

22 October 2009
Health Risk Debate:
Is Nanotechnology Dangerous? - Speigel Online International, Germany

21 October 2009
Germany warns over dangers of nanotechnology - DW-WORLD.DE, Germany

5 August 2009
New insights into health and environmental effects of carbon nanoparticles - SafeNano, UK

1 August 2009
Nanomaterial Case Studies: Nanoscale Titanium Dioxide - SafeNano, UK

30 July 2009
Interdisciplinary Review considers adverse health impacts of fibrous nanomaterials - SafeNano, UK

29 July 2009
EPA clarifies Significant New Use Rules for carbon nanotubes - NanoWerk, USA

28 July 2009
Nanotech particles affect brain development in mice - EurekAlert

27 July 2009
Cellular toxicity of titanium dioxide nanotubes and nanowires - NanoWerk, USA

24 July 2009
OECD nanotechnology conference highlights need to protect human health and the environment - SafeNano, UK

23 July 2009
Nanotechnology: are we risking too much? - The Ecologist, UK

21 July 2009
Highlighting the importance of exposure assessment in determining nanomaterial risks - SafeNano, UK

16 July 2009
Government Call To Help Create A UK Strategy For Nanotechnologies - Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, UK

14 July 2009
Hiding a toxic nanomaterial's identity: TSCA's disappearing act - Environmental Defense Fund, USA

12 July 2009
No nano labeling despite concerns - The Syndey Morning Herald, Australia

9 July 2009
Too small to overlook - Nature, USA

22 June 2009
Manmade nanoparticles could contaminate marine food web - University of South Carolina, USA

15 June 2009
Carbon nanotubes may suppress human immunity - The Guardian, UK

10 June 2009
Nano silver: extreme germ killer presents a growing threat to public health - Friends of the Earth, Australia

8 June 2009
Not so 'green' nanotechnology manufacturing - NanoWerk, US

Direct link:

There is an environmental disease on the horizon that will affect more humans and the environment than any one person will know. Its environmental impact will be far greater than DDT, PCBs and asbestos have ever been. It is called Morgellons: A Nano-911 Foreign Invader. It has many names - fiber disease, mystery disease, delusional parasitosis and unknown dermatological skin disorder, to name a few. There are 93 exhibiting symptoms. It is silent, smart, glistening - powered by its own transitional metal battery. And when it strikes its victim it feels like a piece of burning broken glass as it pierces the skin. Smaller than any of the 150 pieces of a virus (known as virons), it is invisible to the naked eye. So silent is it, only the one who has been invaded knows its true nature. Marked with the seal of man-made, self-assembling nano-size materials they can be used in forming drugs, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, biomaterials, artificial nerves, artificial brains, pseudo skin and molecular electronics. Yes, it was patterned after nature's many wonders, but it is still one hundred percent man made. The nano-brew has been loosed from its scientific flask casting its woes upon an unsuspecting innocence.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

The industry is expected to be worth about $2 trillion by 2014.

The United States is the world leader in nanotechnology -- the newly blossoming science of making incredibly small materials and devices -- but is not paying enough attention to the environmental, health and safety risks posed by nanoscale products, says a report released yesterday by the independent National Research Council.

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Thousands of US Families Suffering, Tens of Thousands Worldwide

On December 5th, 2006, Dr. Edward L. Spencer MD spoke to the Berkeley California Mayor and City Council Members on behalf of the Community Environmental Advisory Commission (CEAC).

HERE IS A TRANSCRIPT OF DR. SPENCER'S COMMENTS:

Honorable Mayor and Berkeley City Council Members:

My name is Edward Spencer MD. I have practiced Neurology in Northern California for more than thirty years. I am speaking tonight on the issue of health and nanotechnology.

A very strange disorder named Morgellons disease is among us, and the world wide number of cases is approaching 20 thousand with major clusters in the Bay Area and Southern California.

There now exists strong data indicating that this disorder is associated with nanotechnology, specifically nano machines in the form of nanofibers. The National Science Foundation (NSF) defines nanofibers as having at least one dimension of 100 nanometer (nm) or less.

So-called Morgellons disorder presents as brain fog, fatigue and other neurological symptoms. It is associated with the presence of tiny fibers protruding from the skin, intense itching, the possible appearance of ulcerative lesions ringed by a raised crater rim, and other strange lesions. The fibers have been widely observed to move.

There is no satisfactory treatment, physicians and dermatologists are unfamiliar with this chronic disabling disorder and tend to ignore it. Patients become labeled as having Delusions of Parasitosis, and this psychiatric diagnosis is stuck to the patients by dermatologists who have not examined the skin under magnification, and who have not completed the extensive evaluation necessary to exclude all parasitic skin disorders before making a psychiatric diagnosis.

Pictures of the fibers are provided in the packet and I will direct your attention to the blue fiber with the gold tip. This was removed from a patient. This fiber did not burn until it has been heated to 1700 degrees F. Compare that with hair, which is easily burned producing a characteristic odor and has a cellular structure. The fibers are shed regularly and some grow to long lengths indicating fiber production in the human body. Dr. Janovy has stated of this blue fiber, 'it has no eukaryotic cells, it has no cell membrane, it is not a parasite, it is not biological, it is a machine.' Web article: Gold Nano Anchors Put Nanowires in Their Place is appended. Also included are microphotographs by Dr. Hildegarde Staninger of a blue Morgellons fiber removed from a patient. Note the similarity of structure.

There is evidence that Morgellons disorder(s) is carried by insect vectors, as some type of bug bite frequently precedes the onset of the disorder(s). The agent(s) producing Morgellons are in the sewer systems.

Also included are photomicrographs of very strange skin lesions. Morgellons appears almost biblical in its characteristics%u2026. like something described in Exodus. Dr Randy Wymore of the University of Oklahoma sent fibers to the FBI. No matching fibers were found in the FBI forensic database. A contact in Naval Intelligence has recommended looking into Smart Dust. (Specks in field arrays).

The National Register of Environmental Professionals has assigned a task force to look into environmental causes behind Morgellons Disorder. I ask the Berkeley City Council to request that the University of California devote its considerable intellectual and technical resources to studying these nanofibers and this disease.

Under the wise guidance of Wall Street and insurance companies, American Medicine has fallen into an amazing state of degeneracy. Medical care is unavailable for many, access is limited for most, and research money is frequently unavailable except from major drug companies. Using technical terms, American Medicine is in the toilet. The response of the CDC has been lethargic to the point of being alarming.

A simple electronic microscope such as you see here allows inspection of the skin at 50x to 400x and allows the clinician to document the existence of fibers. Eyeballs at two feet won't do it, and simple equipment like this should be available in the UC Clinics. And, of course, we need methods of treatment.

The Eddie Bauer protest highlights a growing movement aimed at probing the potential health risks of nanotechnology, which is finding its way into commercial products despite scant research into its long-term effects. While still nascent, the backlash recalls other environmental challenges to new technologies, notably genetically modified foods, which have spawned grass-roots opposition movements amid fierce denials from companies that their products are harmful.

Nanotechnology broadly refers to engineering at microscopic scales. By manipulating materials at the molecular level, scientists can enhance them with new properties that go beyond those available in ordinary substances.

Examples of nanomaterials already on the market include nanoscale titanium dioxide used in some cosmetics and sunscreens, nanoscale silica being used as dental fillers, and nanowhiskers used in stain-resistant fabrics like Eddie Bauer's nanopants. Plus, nanoclays and coatings are being used in a range of products from tennis balls to bikes to cars to improve bounce, strengthen high-impact parts or render material scratch-proof. Nanotechnology could one day give rise to microscopic machines.

Quick. What's the difference between artificial life and synthetic biology? Don't know? Neither does anyone else, but that isn't stopping nanobiotechnology researchers from building them - or it, or that, or whatever.
lifeboat.com/ex/i.nanobot

Colonies of symbiotic algae and fungi known as lichens (which some have called a form of sub-aerial biofilm) are among the first plants to grow on bare stone, helping in soil formation by slowly etching the rock [55]. Lithobiontic microbial communities such as crustose saxicolous lichens penetrate mineral surfaces up to depths of 1 cm using a complex dissolution, selective transport, and recrystallization process sometimes termed "biological weathering" [56].

Colonies of epilithic (living on rock surfaces) microscopic bacteria produce a 10 micron thick patina on desert rocks (called "desert varnish" [57]) consisting of trace amounts of Mn and Fe oxides that help to provide protection from heat and UV radiation [57-59]. In theory, replicating nanorobots could be made almost entirely of nondiamondoid materials including noncarbon chemical elements found in great abundance in rock such as silicon, aluminum, iron, titanium and oxygen (Section 2). The subsequent ecophagic destruction of land-based biology by a maliciously programmed noncarbon epilithic replicator population that has grown into a significant nanomass is the "gray lichen" scenario.

Nanotechnology may lead to advanced cancer treatments,
like tiny robots that attack cancers, but some experts are concerned
about the potential for this technology to do harm if it remains unchecked.

health.howstuffworks.com/gold-nanotech1.htm

The primary ecophagic concern is that runaway nanorobotic replicators or "replibots" will convert the entire surface biosphere (the ecology of all living things on the surface of the Earth) into alternative or artificial materials of some type - especially, materials like themselves, e.g., more self-replicating nanorobots.

Two recent studies published in the Journal of Toxicological Sciences and Nature Nanotechnology have demonstrated that some multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT or MWNT) can induce in mice a response similar to that induced by certain asbestos fibers. At a first glance, MWCNT and asbestos fibers have one major thing in common, their needle-like shape.....

http://icon.rice.edu/resources.cfm?doc_id=12299



ALSO..... ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

www.ed.ac.uk/news/2008/may/carbon-nanotubes

"Carbon nanotube health hazard"

Experts are warning of potential health dangers to workers handling carbon nanotubes used in everyday objects from tennis racquets to paint.

Research led by the University of Edinburgh focused on carbon nanotubes - cylindrical molecules that are 1/50,000th as wide as a human hair - which are a key product of nanotechnology industries.

The researchers found that when the carbon nanotube fibres were short they appeared harmless. However, the body's scavenger cells were unable to deal with the longer fibres, which provoked inflammation and disease in sensitive tissue surrounding organs in the body including the lungs.

The reaction is similar to asbestos, where longer fibres are also more harmful and can cause mesothelioma - a cancer in the tissue that lines the lung.

While there would seem to be little risk to consumers using products containing nanotubes, toxicologists are concerned that there might be a health risk to workers involved in the manufacture of carbon nanotubes and to those who make products containing them.

The study, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, follows concerns that carbon nanotubes could pose a health threat due to their similarity in shape to asbestos.

Led by the University of Edinburgh, the research was carried out in collaboration with the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, the Institute of Occupational Medicine, Napier University and the University of Manchester.

The authors urge more research to investigate the potential risks during the manufacture of carbon nanotubes. These would include looking at how long the fibres are, how much is in the air, the likelihood of them being breathed in and the determination of safe exposure levels.

While we have identified a potential hazard, more research is needed to show what, if any, the health risk is. There should be minimal risk in handling items made of carbon nanotubes because the fibres are so embedded. We are more concerned that there may be higher exposure of the workers involved in production of items containing nanotubes. With the global market for carbon nanotubes predicted to exceed £1 billion by 2010 more research is needed.

Professor Ken Donaldson

Chair of Respiratory Toxicology at the University

This article was published on May 23, 2008

6th Floor Boardroom - Directions
Broad stakeholder groups work to predict and manage the impacts of nanomaterials

As nanotechnology has moved out of the laboratory and into commercial products, many have begun to question the impact of nanoscale materials on health and the environment. Learning more about such impacts, however, presents a daunting task, given the number of potential products, the pace of innovation, and the need to share information and leverage costs toward a more efficient, timely international research effort. A major challenge has been to produce a global research strategy for predicting the interactions between engineered nanoparticles and biological systems so that biocompatible nanomaterials can be developed and applied safely.

Last year, more than 70 experts from 13 countries - in academia, industry, governments and non-governmental agencies - accepted that challenge. In an unprecedented international collaboration, the International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON) convened two workshops aimed at defining a set of research needs for assessing potential nanotechnology impacts.

The results of this multi-stakeholder effort, funded by ICON and the National Science Foundation, will be unveiled on Thursday, May 1, when ICON, in partnership with the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, releases the "International Assessment of Nanotechnology Environment, Health and Safety Research Needs" - a report on the findings of the two workshops.

Commercial-scale advances continue to exploit the functional advantages of nanoscaled materials across a diverse array of chemical engineering and medical applications.
However, critics charge that the potential environmental, health and safety risks are not being studied adequately enough.

www.cheresources.com/nanotech1.shtml

By moving individual atoms around, we can improve just about everything - from designing stronger, lighter materials to smaller computing chips to more effective drugs to possibly toxin-eating nanomachines to other things we haven't begun to imagine.

But that's exactly the problem. We haven't imagined enough of the implications of nanotechnology, both good and bad. And when you're talking about manipulating things on the atomic scale, things can get very bad.

Is nanotechnology capable of such devastations? Maybe. It might enable us to have super-human capabilities, creating a new class of persons who can outcompete "normal" people. It might spawn a new breed of mini-weapons to kill in new ways and potentially used by terrorists. Maybe it'll be used for the stealthiest surveillance ever, intruding further into our privacy.

Or maybe not. But by ignoring criticisms, the industry loses a great opportunity. Learning from biotech mistakes - think "Frankenfoods" - it's better to resolve these dilemmas now, rather than defensively react when they inevitably resurface and send stock prices plummeting

"An army of artificial worms barely visible to the human eye mines the soil converting waste and pollutants to organic nutrients. The soil now in its most perfect state, yields food for a hungry world."

© Copyright 2002 by Gina "Nanogirl" Miller

Our environment has seen the results of chemicals upon its land, waters and air. DDT and how it almost whipped out the American Bald Eagle almost 40 years ago was a perfect example of how a chemical could do harm in the food chain of other animals. Nano materials that are dumped into the streams and air are a time bomb of environmental problems. It is important for both scientists and the general public to keep a close track on the developments of nanotechnology and to distinguish the real facts of this technology. And determine if it can really improve our lives without compromising our dignity, integrity and the human race.