Nanotechnology

[Sadsack]

MinnPost - As nanotechnology hits the marketplace, safety is a growing issue

As nanotechnology hits the marketplace, safety is a growing issue


By Jim Dawson | Thursday, May 14, 2009


The scientists and the audience of 50 or so people gathered at a recent science-policy forum in Washington, D.C., were engaged in a discussion that researchers would normally dread: predicting the future. One scientist talked about "gauging newly emerging waves," while another spoke of "upstream oversight."

The session, "Anticipatory Governance of Emerging Technologies," lived up to its billing – an insider's discussion of how federal regulatory agencies might develop rules to control new technologies that could pose a health or environmental threat to society.

But it quickly became clear that the most worrisome "emerging technology" is already here – nanotechnology. Whether in the form of anti-bacterial panties or canola oil that claims to reduce cholesterol, products "enhanced" with nano particles are already flooding the market.




Nanotechnology is "getting ahead of the environmental, health and safety issues," said Jennifer Kuzma, a biochemist focusing on technology risk and oversight issues at the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. "And it is getting ahead of the legal and social implications of the research." Kuzma was one of the researchers speaking at the meeting.

Focus is on science, not safety
Although the federal government spends more than a billion dollars on nanotechnology research annually, safety studies aren't getting the funding they should, Kuzma noted. The focus is on science and "safety isn't a scientific assessment, it's a value," she said. As for the hundreds of nanotech consumer products already coming onto the market, she observed that the "driving force is the marketplace, not social good."

While the promise of nanotechnology can hardly be overstated, Kuzma is just one of many scientists and policy experts concerned that the enthusiasm pushing the field's development is dwarfing the safety concerns. For most nonscientists, nanotechnology still seems exotic. Yet in 2007 about $60 billion worth of nano products were sold worldwide, and that number was expected to reach $150 billion in 2008, according to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnolgies, a joint effort by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Pew Charitable Trust. The Wilson center's nano products database contains more than 800 items, everything from facial powder and toothpaste to baseball bats and anti-bacterial washing machines. And right around the marketing corner are nanofoods.

Nanotechnology is the 25-year-old science based on incredibly tiny engineered particles. The U.S. government spends about $1.5 billion annually on nanotechnology research. Internationally about $7.5 billion is spent each year on research. Yet virtually everyone involved in nanotechnology – scientists, government officials, and industry representatives – concede that too little is known about the health effects of exposure to these particles. Nanoparticles are typically 1/100,000 the width of a human hair and exist on the scale of atoms and molecules. One of their key appeals is they are light and extremely strong. Carbon nanotubes can make a metal baseball bat up to 30 times stronger than a non-nano bat. Nanoparticles are also being envisioned as miniature containers that can deliver drugs directly into cells, and as strong, thin wires that can carry electricity over great distances.

But the size of nanotubes underlies many of the safety concerns. "The fear is that somebody will introduce the material in products and it will be harmful and nobody will recognize it," said Andrew Maynard, the chief science adviser to the nanotechnology project. "It could be another asbestos, with particles [getting into the body] and having long latency periods before causing problems. That isn't likely to happen, but people fear it."

Concerns about absorption, inhalation
Maynard and other experts are concerned that nanoparticles in sunscreen and cosmetics could be absorbed through the skin, or that inhaled particles from facial powders could lodge deep in the lungs. "They are small enough that they can get to different places in the body, like the brain," Maynard said.

Add to that the concern over the phenomenon that particles sometimes take on different properties when they become very small. Gold, for example, undergoes a "radical transformation" when it is reduced to the nano scale, Maynard said. "It turns red and becomes chemically reactive." So something that is safe at a large scale may not be safe at the nano scale.

While there is uncertainty about the safety of nanoparticles in consumer products, even less is known about the use of nanotechnology in agricultural and food production, Kuzma said. She has looked at the use of nanoparticles being used as flavor enhancers in food, as anti-bacterial treatments for livestock, and as preservatives in food packaging. The health and safety issues, she said, remain "largely unexplored."

The U.S. nanotechnology effort is overseen by the federal National Nanotechnology Initiative. Part of that initiative is a "working group" charged with making sure environmental and health aspects of nanotechnology are adequate. But a National Research Council report late last year found that there are "serious weaknesses" in the government's health and environmental risks program. The money for researching the risk is inadequate, the report said, and despite the existence of the working group, "there is no single organization or person that will be held responsible" for overseeing safety research.

Report calls for emerging-technologies agency
A report issued in April by J. Clarence Davies, a former Environmental Protection Agency official, called for the creation of a federal agency to provide the "new thinking, new laws and new organizational forms" necessary to handle the challenges of regulating nanotechnology and other emerging technologies. Kuzman and others think that the creation of an entirely new federal regulatory agency is both unlikely and unnecessary.

Congress stepped into the game with the passage of a bill earlier this year by the House of Representatives that requires federal agencies participating in the National Nanotechnology Initiative to develop a plan for the environmental and safety research, and a roadmap for implementing it. A similar bill is expected in the Senate soon, and observers on Capitol Hill believe it will pass.

It will be years before the nanotechnology safety issues are entirely sorted out. In the meantime, Maynard said, "I don't think the consumer should be too worried," but there is concern "with products where it can get in your body [such as cosmetics]. If nanoparticles can get on your skin, or in your food, or in sprays that you'll inhale, that would be of more concern than in a baseball bat."

[Katinka]

Originally Posted by Sadsack

It will be years before the nanotechnology safety issues are entirely sorted out. In the meantime, Maynard said, "I don't think the consumer should be too worried," but there is concern "with products where it can get in your body [such as cosmetics]. If nanoparticles can get on your skin, or in your food, or in sprays that you'll inhale, that would be of more concern than in a baseball bat."

Don't "think" we should be too worried? Ha! What a farce!

Nanoparticles in sunscreen may damage skin
But zinc oxide and titanium dioxide nanoparticles can cause production of free radicals when exposed to UV light. Free radicals can damage the DNA of cells and may cause other harm as well. Some studies suggest that nanoparticles can penetrate the skin through areas affected by acne, eczema, sunburn or nicks from shaving. Scientific opinion is moving towards recommending caution before we allow ourselves to be exposed to manufactured nanoparticles in products such as sunscreens.

The components are widely known as "Zinc Oxide" and "Titanium Dioxide"
and have often been declared to be "safe".

Cosmetics for example which often contain these nanoparticles are
lipstick or mascara.

COSMETICSINFO.ORG - Your source for safety information about cosmetics and personal care products

The beauty creams with nanoparticles that could poison your body
The beauty creams with nanoparticles that could poison your body | Mail Online

Look here some product names are listed.

Katinka

[Sadsack]

That image - tubes with balls - is seen over and over again in samples that people are able to microphotograph. They mean something.

Here's more concern:

Baltimore Science News Examiner: Looking for a nano-needle in an environmental haystack
Looking for a nano-needle in an environmental haystack



May 20, 7:37 AM







Carbon nanotubes (Credit: St Stev)
While some researchers are devoting time to finding diagnostic and therapeutic uses for nanotechnology, there's another faction observing the potential ways they can harm health and the environment. Both aspects are important to consider as science moves forward with this emerging new technology.
Today, at noon on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus, Bernd Nowack from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research St. Gallen, Switzerland, will present the talk "Nano and Environment: Where to look for the nano-needle in the environmental haystack?" The lecture will be given in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering in 234 Ames Hall. This is a Whiting School of Engineering event.
Nowack will discuss the behavior and the effects of nanomaterials in the environment such as titanium dioxide, nano silver, carbon nanotubes, fullerenes, and zinc oxide. A modeling method called predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) was used to calculate the presence of these substances in various environments, including air, soil, water and sediments.
Nowack will discuss the potential risks of having these substances in the environment and will talk about other studies going forward, such as analysis of nanogold particles. Nanogold is frequently used in medical applications of nanotechnology. According to a release about this talk, Nowack's work "makes it possible for the first time to carry out a quantitative risk assessment of nanomaterials in the environment."
Nanotechnology is finding its way into more and more consumer products, from clothing to cosmetics to housepaints. Medical applicatons of nanoscale materials has great potential to help treat and diagnose human disease. It will be interesting to see how the risks and the benefits of these matierals will grow up together. I plan to attend this talk and will comment later on Nowack's actual lecture.

[Sadsack]

In case you've forgotten, "Singularity" is the name given to the movement to fuse humans with technology, making them immortal.
Many of us believe that Morgellons is experimentation in the effort to develop human-machine hybrids. Are we unsuccessful experiments?

SS
PS - "AI" stands for "aritificial intelligence"
PPS - It is interesting how this article was tagged for a Morgellons treatment ad!!!

An update on the movement:

Next Big Future


Tracking high impact progress to the technology future, future technology and especially advanced nanotechnology, nuclear and energy technology, [COLOR=blue !important][FONT='Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Verdana, Sans-serif][COLOR=blue !important][FONT='Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Verdana, Sans-serif]quantum[/font][/font][/color][/color] computers, life extension, space technology and AI. Proposing and tracking the best societal, business and technical choices to the next big things that will shape our future. Official Lifeboat Foundation news source.












May 28, 2009

Next Big Future at the Singularity University July 16, 2009


The Singularity University plans to offer a 9 week course this summer from 27 June - 29 Aug 2009, at NASA Research Park at Moffet Field. In March, the Singularity University had received preliminary [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]applications[/color][/color] from 1300 potential students for 40 slots.

On Thursday, July 16th (11:30-12:30), Brian Wang of Next Big Future will speak on the "Latest Developments in Nanotechnology".

This talk will cover the latest in self assembly, DNA nanotechnology, but also stuff with graphene, carbon nanotubes, particles, drug delivery, Reprap and other desktop fabrication systems.

This talk will not be covering theory or projected future results, but rather what has actually been done in the lab (or fielded in actual products, in a few cases) as of today. It is one of 7 core lectures in the Nanotech Track and is intended to provide an overview of the most current results in nanotechnology from the forefront of research in labs all over the world. This will be a [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]presentation[/color][/color] of the leading edge of “what can already be done today".

Ralph Merkle and Robert Freitas are co-Chairs of the Nanotechnology Track (one of ten tracks) of the Singularity University.





There will also be specific talks prior to this one covering MEMS (1 hour), self-assembly (1 hour), Diamond Mechano Synthesis (DMS) (1 hour), and molecular machinery (1 hour), but specific areas in these topics will also be in the overview of latest developments where they have made important progress.

Next Big Future: Next Big Future at the Singularity University July 16, 2009

[Sadsack]

The Morgellons treament ad showed on the "preview" but was missing on the post.

SS

[Sadsack]

Newsmax.com - Media Pick up on China Nanotechnology Threat

Media Pick up on China Nanotechnology Threat


Friday, May 29, 2009 7:21 AM

By: Lev Navrozov Article Font Size



On May 12, 2009, I received an e-mail from Dr. William Mcintosh, the assistant producer for WELE, a radio station and Web site in Florida: “Mr. Navrozov — can we interview you regarding the China threat and nanotechnology?”

I accept all interviews on my key subject: The defense of the democracies against the “new slave societies” (such as “Soviet” Russia, “National-Socialist” Germany, and “Communist” China) provided I am interviewed over the telephone or the TV equipment is brought into one of my two studios.

The interview took place on May 14, and its host was Doug Kosarek, who has a strong mind and a very pleasant voice. Mr. Mcintosh had sent me their written permission to outline the interview for Newsmax.com and WorldTribune.com.

I wanted first of all to establish for our audience certain undeniable facts that former President George W. Bush, the CIA, the U.S. Defense Department, and even the major media have been avoiding.

Has the dictatorship of China been developing (molecular) nanoweapons, as Eric Drexler, who introduced the words “nano” and “nanotechnology,”
described them in his book of 1986? Yes or no?

Here are the articles, written by Chinese military officers and collected by the American sinologist Michael Pillsbury during his stay in China. The collection is entitled “Chinese Views of Future Warfare.” The last article in the collection was written by Major Gen. Sun Bailin of China’s Academy of Military Science and published in the Chinese magazine “National Defense” on June 15, 1996.

The article is entitled “Nano Weapons on Future Battlefields.” I will quote the last sentence of this article: “‘Nanotechnology’ will certainly become a crucial military technology of the 21st century!”

The host of the program, Doug Kosarek, asked me to describe nanoweapons. I said that molecular nanoweapons are molecules converted into microscopic flying battle vehicles, complete with computers and everything necessary to annihilate nuclear bs, for example. Billions of such virus-like vehicles make a cloud, moving where ordered and destroying whatever ordered.

This is like bacteriological war, except that bacteria can only infect and thus spread a disease, while the microscopic "nanobattle" vehicles destroy anything they are programmed to destroy.

Here Doug Kosarek expressed his reassuring confidence that in the United States there is a similar development of nanoweapons. Yes! But what are the comparative levels of this development in the United States and China?

Thus we arrived at one of the possible key causes of the possible defeat of the democracies. Their intelligence/espionage is a century behind the times. They could penetrate the old traditional societies, and they can penetrate each other. But they cannot penetrate the new "slave states."

One example. In the United States, there are millions of illegals, that is, millions of possible spies. Now, suppose a U.S. aircraft dropped a spy on the territory of the pre-1991 Russia. He had to live (and sleep!) in some dwelling, right? But that would require him to get registered in that dwelling, and that would require his “internal passport,” which could not be forged, since a copy was always kept by the ubiquitous ordinary police (not the KGB), and a telephone call to the police would reveal that there had been no police copy of the “internal passport” in question, that is, the “internal passport” was a forgery.

A Chinese dissident living in the U.S. told me how a Chinese nanolab or a workshop is built inside a mountain rock so that neither its wall nor its floor or ceiling could be drilled to penetrate it.

The CIA does not mention Chinese nanoweapons, since it knows nothing of their development in China and hence wants everyone to forget about them.

Yet the phenomenal growth of China’s nanotechnology in general is a fact not to be ignored. The British Guardian carried on March 3 an article entitled “China’s Giant Step Into Nanotech.” It would be absurd to suppose that an even more giant step has not been taken in China’s development of molecular nanoweapons.

Well, the new slave states have other military advantages over the democracies, which follow from the sociopolitical differences between the two.

A new slave state, in peace or at war, is an army at war. Its dictator(s) can (secretly) allocate all human and physical resources (except the maintenance of the minimum for the rank-and-file majority and surpluses for the chiefs) to prepare for an attack with post-nuclear weapons and to make all inhabitants express joy with respect to whatever is done by the dictator(s), that is, their owner(s).

In a democracy, human beings can live for themselves. Their perception of the need for the defense against a new slave state may be vague, utopian, or nonexistent. They are free to oppose any war or to extol any new slave state, no matter how dangerous, as well as to help it (under “globalization” for example) to develop the best nanoweapons, to say nothing of its science and technology in general.

Any strategic advantages of the democracies? Just one — freedom!

Freedom creates genius, and genius created what was fundamentally new, such as the atom b, which grew out of the atomic research that won the Curies the Nobel Prize in 1892.

The democracies are able to use the creativity of genius in freedom to defend themselves. Actually, though the idea of molecular nano weapons originated between 1959 and 1986, when it was described by Drexler in his book he published that year, he was ridiculed by producers of commercial nanoproducts until just a few years ago.

Some of those businessmen feared that the Congress would direct its nano allocations to Drexler’s research institute and not to them.

In conclusion of the interview, I said, “Well, as you see, it is impossible to cover all the ground in one interview, and I am not against its sequel. Meanwhile, let’s thank our listeners for their attention.”

You can e-mail me at navlev@cloud9.net.

[Sadsack]

Magnetic Nanoparticles

06/02/2009

• Misc books

Magnetic Nanoparticles

asin: 3527407901
binding: Hardcover
list price: $200.00 USD
amazon price: $200.00 USD


This interdisciplinary approach to the topic brings together reviews of the physics, chemistry, fabrication and application of magnetic nanoparticles and nanostructures within a single cover. With its discussion of the basics as well as the most recent developments, and featuring many examples of practical applications, the result is both a clear and concise introduction to the topic for beginners and a guide to relevant comprehensive physical phenomena and essential technological applications for experienced researchers.
From the Back Cover:




Magnetism of nanoparticles is an area of intense development that touches many fields including material science, condensed matter physics, biology, medicine, planetary science, etc. Yet, in that brief time, magnetic nanoparticles have become a valued research tool in broad array of scientific, engineer and commercial field.
This book presents a coherent and comprehensive treatment of the subject with an up-to-date discussion many unique phenomena such as superparamagnetism , quantum tunnelling of magnetization, enhanced magnetic coercivity , magnetic phase transitions, size effects, surface influence, interparticle interactions and interactions of magnetic nanoparticles with a matrix. Thus this Book brings together in one, compact volume almost all aspects of modern nanotechnology magnetic materials.
The topic of magnetic nanoparticles is becoming increasingly important due to its prominent role in many of today's biomedical, information and energy technologies including ferrofluids, high-density magnetic storage, high-frequency electronics, high performance permanent magnets, magnetic refrigerants, etc Serving as a timely and convenient reference source including some new advances, the Book will appeal to academic and industrial researches as well as graduate and senior undergraduate students in the fields of nanotechnology of magnetic materials.
Magnetic Nanoparticles

SS

PS - The way these particles behave sound very much like what happens in the bodies of people with Morgellons.

[Kritters]

Hey SS,

I betcha we would find some nifty clues to Morgellons if someone read that book.

Kritts

[Sadsack]

Kritters -

I agree - someone with some brains...lol...so I sent it to Dr. Staninger. My eyes would be closing and my head dropping by the bottom of the first page!

SS

[Kritters]

me too....with drool