Canadian legislator proposes to include nanotechnology in Canadian Environmental Protection Act - Nanowerk News

(Nanowerk News) Peter Julian, MP for Burnaby-New Westminster, tabled Bill C-494 in the House of Commons that will include nanotechnology in the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, and require the Health and Environment Ministers to act. “There is a need for public policy governed by the precautionary principle,” said Julian. “We need a proper balance between protecting Canadians from potential harmful consequences and allowing us to reap the benefits of nanotechnologies. This Bill fulfills that need for sound legislative guidance.”

Nanosilver: Do We Know The Risks? - New Haven Independent

(By Alex Halpern). In ancient Rome, tipplers lined jars of wine with the precious metal to keep it from going bad. Millenia later we are buying refrigerators and socks, with microscopic silver particles to keep them fresh. The particles are called “nanosilver,” and they’re seeping into more and more consumer products.

Now the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it plans to announce formally, in the federal registry, that it will take a look at its regulatory procedures for nanosilver. The announcement follows calls by health and environmental watchdog groups for a crackdown.

Nano Magic - The Financial Express

(By Sudhir Chowdhary) Notwithstanding hopes or fears, nanotechnology is finally moving beyond the confines of the research laboratories to the marketplace. There is feverish activity as the nanotech-based products begin to enter the market in a big way. Industry majors such as the Tatas, Samsung, Reliance, Thermax and others have introduced a host of products such as nano-based water filters, washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, deodorants and cosmetics. Nanoscale materials are also being used in electronic, magnetic and optoelectronic, biomedical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, energy, catalytic and materials applications.

Engaging the public on science? Surely you’re joking! - 2020 Science

(By Andrew Maynard). I was at a meeting a couple of weeks ago where engaging the public (or “publics” to be more accurate) in science came up. In the course of discussions, I mentioned an initiative by Research Councils UK to involve members of the public in developing a call for research proposals on the use of nanotechnology in healthcare. To which one eminent US scientist responded with words to the effect of “that sounds like a really bad idea!”

Some sunscreens 'come at a cost' - ABC Science Online

(By Anna Salleh) The most effective nanoparticles in some invisible sunscreens might also be the most toxic, suggests a new Australian modelling study.

The study, by Dr Amanda Barnard of CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering in Melbourne, appears in today's issue of Nature Nanotechnology.

Dr Barnard carried out computer simulations of the properties of titanium dioxide nanoparticles, which are used to make some sunscreens transparent, increasing their appeal to consumers.

Popular nanoparticle causes toxicity in fish, study says - Purdue Newsroom

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A nanoparticle growing in popularity as a bactericidal agent has been shown to be toxic to fish, according to a Purdue University study.

Tested on fathead minnows – an organism often used to test the effects of toxicity on aquatic life -- nanosilver suspended in solution proved toxic and even lethal to the minnows. When the nanosilver was allowed to settle, the solution became several times less toxic but still caused malformations in the minnows.

Atmosphernic nanoparticles impact health, weather prof says - Texas A & M News & Information Service

Nanoparticles are atmospheric materials so small that they can’t be seen with the naked eye, but they can very visibly affect both weather patterns and human health all over the world – and not in a good way, according to a study by a team of researchers at Texas A&M University.

Researchers Lin Wang, Renyi Zhang, Alexei Khalizov, Jun Zheng, Wen Xu, Yan Ma and Vinita Lal in the Departments of Atmospheric Sciences and Chemistry say that nanoparticles appear to be growing in many parts of the world, but how they do so remains a mystery.

Obama’s EPA Poised To Crack Down On Nanotech - New Haven Independent

(By Alex Halpern) The world’s smallest materials are going under the government’s microscope.

Under agency chief Lisa Jackson, the Obama Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency has promised to tighten regulations on nanomaterials, particles as small as molecules which are used by companies working in fields as varied as cosmetics and advanced materials.

At atomic levels many materials take on unique characteristics. Surface areas relative to mass can increase and often a material’s conductivity or water solubility changes. These properties make nanoparticles the basis for powerful new medical and consumer products. But some nanomaterials have also raised worries from environmental and health watchdogs.

Nanofactories: Brave, Or Grave New World? - New Haven Independent

(By Alex Halpern) A patient without medical insurance downloads a medicine’s formula to his computer. A personal “nanofactory” sits on his desk. It builds the medicine he needs, molecule by molecule, as if printing a document.

Next door, an aspiring tyrant has a nanofactory, too. He’s building guns, lots of guns. Enough to arm a militia.

These scenarios may sound like science fiction. In the view of a leading watcher of the emerging field of nanotechnology, they represent two views of what could be real life in the future.

Toxicology of the Tiny - Miller-McCune

(By James Bradham). Already incorporated into consumer products ranging from baseball bats and clothing to sunscreens and toothpaste, engineered nanoparticles — ENPs — hold great promise in such areas as energy, pollution remediation, medicine and materials science. The nanotechnology industry is projected to be worth $1 trillion by 2015.

It is all made possible by the peculiar properties of nanoparticles, which are defined as having at least one dimension measuring 100 nanometers or less (a nanometer being one-billionth of a meter, or about one one-hundred-thousandth the width of a human hair).

EPA proposes new rules for Certain Multi-wall Carbon Nanotubes - Bureau of National Affairs Daily Environment Report, United States

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a significant new use rule (SNUR) for certain multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCTs) for which it has already received a premanufacture notice. Manufacturers and importers of MWCTs will now have to notify the EPA if they plan to use the substance differently than outlined in their premanufacture submission.