Last week I had a post about a promising battery technology using carbon nanotubes as the substrate, and in the comments, Sarah said something to the effect of “wait til they discover nanotubes cause cancer”.

That’s actually already a concern with nanotechnology, but more from the manufacturing side than the finished product side. The chemicals used to produce carbon nanotubes are fairly toxic and pose long-term health risks to workers, as well as environmental concerns. But, because the properties of chemical substances can be radically altered when reduced to such small forms, there is much unknown about potential risk associated with ANYTHING involving nanoparticles.

For example, see this article from New Scientist about a process being developed that would use carbon nanotubes to create a permanent anti-bacterial shield on surfaces. Unlike present anti-bacterial products, which use chemicals toxic to bacteria, the nanotubes actually create micrscopically small “sharp” edges which rupture the bacteria. But, like with other anti-bacterial products, they create a disruption to an entire ecosystem that could result in unintended consequences with potentially negative repercussions.

Ditto this article in Scientific American which details the development of sunscreen lotion contaning nanoparticles. In this technology, it is not carbon but zinc and/or titanium dioxide that are reduced to nanoparticulate, increasing their effectiveness at blocking ultraviolet radiation. However, particles that small can cross the blood-brain barrier and also lodge in the liver, and studies on humans are incomplete. Nevertheless, the FDA has approved such products.

This op-ed in the environmental magazine Orion argues that there needs to be a significantly increased public awareness of the development nanotechnology, not just as a “gee-whiz” futuristic concept, but as a real manufacturing tool that will find its way into dozens of products over the next number of years. The author, David Rejeski, is the director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson Center. He says that polls show that 70-80% of Americans have heard nothing about nanotechnology, even as some economic projections suggest that nanotech will account for $1.4 trillion in production by 2014 (in other words, roughly the cost of the Iraq War to-date). This is the time, he says, for making sure that the appropriate mechanisms are in place to regulate safety, quality, oversight, and to insure public input. Given the viciously deregulatory nature of the body politic in Washington, the fight will be difficult, so starting early is key.