For any of us old Star Trek fans, the prefix nano- might be familiar. In that case, it was applied to nanobots, extremely tiny bits of high technology that could invade a body or a computer with extreme ease due to their size. The prefix actually means “billionth”—a nanometer, for example, would be one billionth of a meter, and one inch would equal 25,400,000 of them.
Whether nanotechnology is a blessing or a curse, it is now with us and is being used in products that can allow these tiny particles to enter the human body. On top of that, all of the science that has been used to develop nanotechnology is proprietary, and regulations do not require that it be made public.
It’s even difficult to find a simple definition of the term. So Organic Connections turned to George Kimbrell, staff attorney for the Center for Food Safety and the organization’s resident expert on nanotechnology. “I think part of the problem is that there’s not one definition or an agreed-upon one, but different variations on it,” Kimbrell explained. “I think that they all have the same gist, though. The one I usually use is ‘Nanotechnology is the design and manipulation of materials at the atomic and molecular level. It’s science and technology at the level of natural interaction, and the control, design and manipulation of that.’”
Such technology is already being applied to consumer products. “In sunscreens, for example, you take titanium oxide or zinc oxide and you get it down to about 200 nanometers and it’s no longer white—it’s cosmetically clear,” Kimbrell said. “It becomes transparent. They put it into sunscreens to take advantage of that new, novel property.”
Nanotechnology has also made its way into food production. “We’re seeing a lot of nanotech in food packaging,” said Kimbrell. “Nanosilver is the leading antimicrobial, and it’s being incorporated into packaging as well as cleaners. Silver has the age-old propensity to be a great germ killer, and when you shrink silver down and insert it into materials, it’s like silver on steroids, or ‘supersilver.’ Because interaction takes place at the nano scale, it’s much more effective in killing germs.”
The major problem with nanotechnology is that it has not been tested for its effect on humans or the environment. “We haven’t had any experience regulating these materials,” Kimbrell stated. “We don’t quite understand why they are the way they are. With the nanosilver, for example, it’s a great germ killer, but what happens when it gets released out into the environment? We know that it’s going to have the same effect on beneficial microorganisms at the bottom of the food chain—for example, in aquatic systems. That’s a big concern.
“With the sunscreens, we know that when you put the zinc oxide or titanium oxide nanoparticles in there it makes them clear because they’re so small. But does that now mean they can penetrate the skin? Your hair follicles are 20 nanometers wide. If you had sunscreen that had materials in it that were smaller than that, theoretically they could go into your body and circulate with a mobility that larger materials don’t have.
“So the same new properties that excite industry also create these significant yet unexplored environmental and human health risks.”
There are currently 720 products containing nanomaterials on the market, and it is estimated that by 2014 commercial nanotechnology will be a $2.6 trillion business. Despite this, there is not one government in the world with regulations requiring nanomaterials be subject to new safety assessments prior to commercial release.
A searchable database at www.nanotechproject.org/inventories/consumer/ allows anyone to enter a specific type of product and find out if nanotechnology is being used in its packaging. There are also many reports on where nanotechnology is being targeted.
“Unfortunately, the thousand or so products listed on the database only comprise the tip of the iceberg, in our view,” said Kimbrell. “The database merely identifies products that have publicly disclosed that they are using nanotechnology—I think there are many more under the radar. Right now, regulators aren’t requiring any labeling, so we don’t really know.”
For more information about nanotechnology, visit
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