EDF Health

Selected tag(s): Consumer products

Rebuilding the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Nano Tool Box

By / Published: September 8, 2008

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

I have just finished reading yet another depressing/infuriating publication by the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. The new report delineates the many limitations faced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in addressing nanotechnology health risks.  The law governing the CPSC has significant weaknesses that prevent it from meeting critical needs, such as constraints on the ability to collect data, require reporting of known hazards, order recalls and promulgate mandatory safety standards.

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Posted in Health policy, Health science, Nanotechnology, TSCA reform / Also tagged , | Comments are closed

Sticking Point: Nanotechnology, Lizard Feet, and Taping Grown Men to the Ceiling

By / Published: August 7, 2008

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.
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Posted in Health science / Also tagged , , , | Read 3 Responses

Nano On A Hot Tin Roof

By / Published: July 22, 2008

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

Andrew Maynard, of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, recently blogged about an Australian study that documented an odd effect of sunscreens containing nanoscale titanium dioxide (TiO2).  The study was prompted by the observation that installers of metal roofs who used these sunscreens inadvertently transferred the product onto the roofs. In places where the workers’ skin had touched the painted metal surfaces, the paint showed accelerated weathering. Why?  Because the particular type of nanoscale TiO2 in the sunscreen (the anatase crystal form) is photoactive – when it absorbs UV light, it releases free radicals that speed up the oxidation of the underlying paint.

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Posted in Health science, Nanotechnology / Also tagged , | Comments are closed

Burning Questions: Are Sunscreens Containing Nanomaterials Safe?

By / Published: July 16, 2008

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

Ah, summer!  It’s a great time to be outdoors, enjoying the warm, sunny weather.  Before you go outside, be sure to grab your sunscreen, that essential product that protects against skin cancer and sun damage.  But which kind of sunscreen is best?  There is a mesmerizing array of sunscreen options, but for our purposes let’s limit the question to one:  Nano or not nano?

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Posted in Health science, Nanotechnology / Also tagged | Read 4 Responses

Nano Down the Drain

By / Published: June 9, 2008

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

The proliferation of nanoscale materials in consumer products is impressive:  nano titanium dioxide and zinc oxide in sunscreen, buckyballs in face creams, and nanosilver in socks are but a few examples of what is currently available for purchase.  But they make me wonder:  what happens when the nanomaterials in or released from these products are washed down the drain?   Read More »

Posted in Health science, Nanotechnology / Also tagged , | Read 3 Responses

Bacterial Resistance to Silver (Nano or Otherwise)

By / Published: April 29, 2008

Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist.

A recent article posted on scienceline includes a claim that bacteria cannot develop resistance to silver, which is widely used as an antimicrobial.  That assertion is not only false, but also dangerous. Read More »

Posted in Emerging science, Health science, Nanotechnology / Also tagged | Read 4 Responses