Inventory Of Nanotech Products Getting Revamped

One of the most cited inventories of nanotechnology-based consumer products is getting an overhaul. The database is the Consumer Product Inventory hosted by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Containing information about more than 1,000 manufacturer-identified nanotech products, it has not been updated since 2011, when funding for the project lapsed. “It will have a completely new look and a lot more features,” says Todd Kuiken, senior program associate with the Wilson Center’s Science & Technology Innovation Program. Researchers at Virginia Tech’s Institute for Critical Technology & Applied Science (ICTAS) are providing funding and some of the data for the upgrade, Kuiken says. The team of researchers, led by Matthew Hull, a program manager of research for the nano-bio interface and nanoscale science and engineering at ICTAS, is generating scientific information related to the environmental impacts of nanotech-based products throughout their life cycle. Data from that research, including potential exposure pathways, will be incorporated into the product inventory. Other experts will also be able to submit data to the inventory via an online log-in feature.