Nanotechnology, which has confronted technical complications in its development, is now beginning to come to terms with what may be the most serious impediment to its application in consumer product lines -- worker safety and public health.
Nano-materials are now used in more than six hundred products including makeup, sunscreen, wrinkle-fee khakis, tennis rackets and bicycles, with many more high-tech applications under development, such as tiny, powerful computer chips and super-strong materials for space.
Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire each have nanotech centers, and at least 10 companies in the state make use of nano-materials.
But Jennifer Sass, a senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the rapid introduction of the technology has come without adequate testing for health risks.
"There has been almost no testing and we really don't know very much about the safety of nano-materials yet," she said. "It's going to be left up to the states, and right now they're not doing it, either."
No regulation
Nano-materials, manufactured at a scale of a billionth of a meter, can be inhaled or swallowed and enter the bloodstream or brain.
Initial studies indicate the tiny materials may mimic cell components, interact with DNA, cause inflammation and impair cell function, Sass said.
Scientists are most concerned with risks to workers during nano-manufacturing and to the public when nano-products are discarded and decay to enter water sources, she said.
But so far, federal and state governments have not defined regulations for the nascent industry.
New Hampshire High Tech Council President Fred Kocher and state epidemiologist Jose Montero said New Hampshire has enacted no regulations on nano-manufacturing.
"We don't do any regulation," Montero said. "Nanotechnology is such a recent development."
Sass argues nano-manufacturing should be halted in some cases until sufficient testing is done.
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