SAFENANO Community

[2020Science]: Asked to conclude the Fourth International Conference on Nanotechnology, Occupational and Environmental Health in Helsinki this year, I rather rashly came up with the above title for my talk - thinking that I would find inspiration in the multitude of new research on nanotech safety being presented at the meeting. As it turns out, ...

Following the widely publicised release of Song et. al.'s study into lung disease in Chinese workers expoed to nanoparticles in the workplace (accessible here), there was of course much discussion within both the nano and wider community as to the paper's implications and its issues. SAFENANO published a special feature on the ...

The recent tragic account of seven Chinese workers suffering—apparently—from nanoparticle-induced lung disease, is likely to raise serious concerns with anyone potentially exposed to similar particles.  Yet without the benefit of insight from scientists and others working on nanoparticles and their potential health impacts, it’s hard to ...

From 2020science.org:The National Research Council of the National Academies releases its review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategy for Nanotechnology-Related Environmental, Health, and Safety Research.  And it’s not pretty. Most people acknowledge that innovation is vital to economic and social prosperity.  But ...

From 2020science.org:  First impressions of the ICON EHS Database Analysis Tool What do you do this holiday season when the turkey’s lost its appeal, you’ve seen every movie worth watching ten times over, and conversational déjà-vu sets in?  If you are really desperate, you could play “nano-trivia”—and thanks to the fine folks at ...

An article on the potential health risks of nanosilver published in 'The Scotsman' newspaper has prompted fresh debate in this controversial area. The article, published in Sunday's issue of The Scotsman, attempts to examine exactly how safe use of as-yet unregulated colloidal nanosilver products really is, features commentary from all sides of ...

From 2020science.org:The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution report on Novel Materials Imagine for one naïve moment that we have a pretty good handle on managing the environmental impact of existing manufactured “stuff”.  Then someone comes along and invents some “new stuff” that behaves very differently from the “old stuff.” How ...

$38 million!  The number keeps floating before my eyes; a retinal imprint from the press release.  $38 million for nanotechnology environmental impact research, courtesy of the folks at the U.S. National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency.  $38 million to be spent over the next five years on addressing the ...

The SafeNANO blog is no stranger to the use (and possible abuse) of nanometre-scale silver—products ranging from silver-enhanced socks and toothpaste to plush toys and cure-alls have all appeared in the spotlight recently.  With each passing month, the number of nano-silver gizmos on the market is growing.  Back in March 2006 when the ...

If you evaluate the toxicity of an engineered nanomaterial, how far can you trust your results?  If someone else repeats your tests and gets a different answer, did they do it wrong? Did you?  Or was the material used different in some subtle but nevertheless important way?  These are questions that have dogged nanotoxicologists ...