A blue-ribbon scientific panel has waved a yellow flag in front of a rapidly expanding number of products containing nanomaterials, cautioning that the tiny substances might be able to penetrate cells and interfere with biological processes.
The warning is contained in a report from the Council of Canadian Academies that will be released publicly today. It is one of the most authoritative to date in this country about the risks of engineered nanomaterials, which companies are adding to products ranging from sunscreens to diesel fuels.
The council, which was asked by Health Canada and several other federal agencies to study the state of knowledge about these novel substances and the regulatory changes needed to oversee their use, concluded that "there are inadequate data to inform quantitative risk assessments on current and emerging nanomaterials."
Their small size, the report says, may allow them "to usurp traditional biological protective mechanisms" and, as a result, possibly have "enhanced toxicological effects."
Although backers of nanomaterials say they hold enormous promise for developing improved medicines and stronger and more durable products, the report cautioned that many useful items once thought to be harmless, such as polychlorinated biphenyls - the now-banned transformer oils known as PCBs - and the herbicide Agent Orange, were later determined to be extremely dangerous.
Nanomaterials are manmade substances measured in nanometres, or lengths of one-millionth of a millimetre. They can be smaller than a flu virus, which typically is 80 to 120 nanometres across.
Over the past decade, they have been increasingly used in such products as cosmetics, wrinkle- and stain-resistant fabrics, sunscreens and sports equipment, including tennis racquets. The full variety of products containing nanomaterials to which Canadians are exposed isn't known. But the number of such items entering Canada from the U.S. alone was estimated to be at least 517, according to an Industry Canada estimate from last year cited in the report.
Full Story: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.
20080710.wnano0710/BNStory/Science/home
