Posts in 'Carbon Nanotubes'
November 18, 2008 |
Posted by Cal Baier-Anderson in
Carbon Nanotubes, Consumer Products, EPA, Environment, Fullerenes, Health, Regulation
Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.
Can nanoparticles get into our drinking water and if so, what's the harm?
Nanoparticles are being used in cosmetics and other personal care products with increasing frequency. Carbon fullerenes, also known as buckyballs, have recently been touted as imparting age-defying antioxidant benefits when added to skin cream. And there are some studies that seem to support these claims. But even if such claimed benefits turn out to be true, this is by no means the end of the story. Read more »
October 31, 2008 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
Carbon Nanotubes, EPA, Health, Inhalation, Regulation, Risk Assessment, TSCA
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
My last post identified two Section 8(e) "substantial risk" notices pertaining to carbon nanotubes, one submitted by BASF, the other by Arkema. I have in my files one additional Section 8(e) notice for a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT), submitted by DuPont. With three Section 8(e) notices submitted for different rat pulmonary toxicity studies on carbon nanotubes, it's interesting to compare their results. Read more »
October 31, 2008 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
Carbon Nanotubes, EPA, Regulation, Research, Risk Assessment, TSCA
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
Section 8(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) requires any company that manufactures, imports, processes or distributes chemicals in the U.S. to notify EPA within 30 days if it obtains new information that "reasonably supports the conclusion that such substance or mixture presents a substantial risk of injury to health or the environment." Are there Section 8(e) notices for nanomaterials? Read more »
October 29, 2008 |
Posted by Cal Baier-Anderson in
Carbon Nanotubes, Health, Research, Risk Assessment
Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.
The manufacture of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is a very complicated business. Different production processes leave behind different kinds of metal catalysts, which yield differences in physical and chemical - as well as toxicological - properties of the CNTs. Read more »
October 13, 2008 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
Carbon Nanotubes, EPA, Environment, Health, Inhalation, Regulation, TSCA, Testing, Worker Safety
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
Since my first post concerning EPA's Consent Order, I've been reflecting further on the management conditions it imposes - or, more accurately, on what conditions it doesn't impose. The Order's only such conditions address potential worker exposure. What about the rest of the nanomaterial's lifecycle? Read more »
October 9, 2008 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
Carbon Nanotubes, EPA, Environment, Health, Inhalation, Regulation, TSCA, Testing, Worker Safety
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
[Part II of this post is available here.]
Word hit the street today that EPA intends to make public a "sanitized" version of a Consent Order it has negotiated with a producer of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). [A link will be provided once available.] We obtained a copy of the Order, which has redacted all information claimed confidential by the company involved. What can we learn from this well-scrubbed Order? Read more »
September 19, 2008 |
Posted by Richard Denison in
Carbon Nanotubes, Health, Research
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.
The insurance industry is out in front on nanotechnology yet again. As the giant reinsurer Swiss Re did way back in May 2004 with its groundbreaking report Nanotechnology: Small matter, many unknowns, it is once again the insurance industry sounding an early alarm about nanomaterials. In this case, it's the Continental Western Insurance Group (CWG), which has just announced that it will exclude coverage for "the, as of yet, unknown and unknowable risks created by the products and processes that involve nanotubes." Read more »
August 7, 2008 |
Posted by Cal Baier-Anderson in
Carbon Nanotubes, Consumer Products, Health, Risk Assessment
Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.
We often think of nanotechnology as the latest product of ultra-modern science, but humans did not invent the nanoscale. We were not even the first to use materials with nanoscale features: The gecko beat us to it by several million years. Even more impressive, this little reptile has managed to use nanoscale materials apparently without experiencing any ill effects. It remains to be seen if we will be able to do this.
Read more »
May 20, 2008 |
Posted by John Balbus in
Carbon Nanotubes, Health, Inhalation, Research, Testing
John Balbus, M.D., M.P.H., is Chief Health Scientist.
A new study published today in Nature Nanotechnology finds that multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) cause inflammatory changes in mice that closely resemble those caused by asbestos. This is the second study in a few months to make this finding. (I posted on the first, Takagi et al., a few weeks ago.) So is the case closed on multi-walled carbon nanotubes? Or is too early to draw conclusions? Read more »
April 17, 2008 |
Posted by John Balbus in
Carbon Nanotubes, Health, Research, Testing
John Balbus, M.D., M.P.H., is Chief Health Scientist.
We and many others have made analogies between nanoparticles and asbestos. The purpose of the analogy has generally been to emphasize the long latency that can occur between exposure to toxic materials and the development and subsequent recognition of disease arising from that exposure. And, of course, the enormous legal and financial burden of failing to adequately consider risks before allowing widespread exposure. But a new study suggests that the analogy may be even stronger than we thought: It may extend to the capacity to cause mesothelioma, the rare form of cancer associated with exposure to asbestos. Read more »
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