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Pharmaceuticals

Nanotech Safety Gets Mixed Review

by Britt E. Erickson
September 16, 2013 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 91, Issue 37

Little has been done across the federal government to integrate research on understanding the potential environmental, health, and safety (EHS) risks of nanotechnology, concludes a report from the National Research Council. The report calls for oversight of nanotechnology EHS research by a single agency at the federal level, with “sustained funding for this research and for the infrastructure needed to support data sharing.” The market for nanotechnology-enabled products is expected to surpass $3 trillion by 2015. Nanotech-based products on the market today include cosmetics, medical treatments, and electronics, but the uses of nanomaterials are changing rapidly, the report notes. “EHS research efforts are not keeping pace with the evolving applications of nanotechnology,” says Jonathan M. Samet, chair of the committee that wrote the report. The report highlights advances in characterizing nanomaterials but cautions that the potential effects of nanomaterials on human health and the environment are not fully understood, particularly with regard to future risk.

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