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Position Statement of the Commission de l'éthique de la science et de la technologie Two aspects of nanotechnology should be highlighted in order to demonstrate the importance of better understanding and monitoring the risk it may entail: first, the key role of nanoparticles in the development of new nanotechnology applications—given the relatively well-known industrial hygiene, health, and environmental risks associated with fine and ultrafine (non-nanometric) particles released into the atmosphere—and second, the new properties materials can acquire at the nanoscale (e.g., toxicity, conductivity, reactivity). Based on this outline of the concept of risk in the area of nanotechnology, the Commission will seek to identify the known or hypothetical risks this technology poses and determine whether current risk assessment and management methods can address the features of nanotechnology-derived products. The nature of risks to consider Like any other natural or industrial particles that present toxicity risks for living organisms, engineered nanoparticles (which are created voluntarily) also carry risks associated with their manipulation or their deliberate or accidental release into the air, soil, and water. These risks must be taken into consideration in order to protect workers, the public, and biodiversity as a whole: • Risks tied to the manufacture, handling, transportation, storage, or elimination of potentially toxic or dangerous products • Risks that laboratory or industrial workers, or any populations who come into contact with toxic powders or products after their release into the air, water, or soil, will inhale or ingest these products or absorb them through the skin • Risks that products released into the air, water, or soil will contaminate flora or fauna • Environmental and health risks tied to the reactivity of certain substances A number of existing statutes and regulations, briefly presented later in this chapter, already address such risks with respect to products not derived from nanotechnology. But other risks, that research has not yet demonstrated, may specifically concern nanotechnologyderived products due to their particular characteristics 104 : • The clustering tendency of engineered nanoparticles and its potential effects on the environment and living organisms • The ratio of the specific surface of nanomatter compared to its mass, which modifies or intensifies the properties of the original material • The reactivity of certain nanometric particles, particularly metallic nanopowders, which can lead to explosion, flammability, or toxicity • The ability of nanomatter to cross the cutaneous, pulmonary, intestinal, placental, and bloodbrain barriers that protect human and animal organisms 104 THE ROYAL SOCIETY & THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING (United Kingdom), op. cit.; SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE ON EMERGING AND NEWLY IDENTIFIED HEALTH RISKS (SCENHIR), op. cit. 28 Ethics and Nanotechnology: A Basis for Action
Position Statement of the Commission de l'éthique de la science et de la technologie Many of the documents consulted indicated that any approach to dealing with the risk posed by nanoparticles must also make a distinction between free particles (including clustered particles) and particles that are part of a non-nanometric object (e.g., a nanometric component of a device used in medicine for endoscopic purposes) and therefore fixed. The latter are currently considered risk free for health and the environment. 105 In contrast, as IRSST observes, “free nanoparticles in the air are cause for concern due to their potentially negative impact on occupational health and safety, their accumulation in the environment, and their enrichment via the food chain. These could have long term risks for the health of populations. Although current knowledge on the toxicity of nanoparticles and the potential level of worker exposure is very limited, preliminary results in most of the important studies reveal significant biological activity and adverse effects. In the short term, it will be almost impossible to acquire adequate knowledge of the risk associated with every type of nanoparticle. This is due not only to the proliferation of new nanoparticles, but also to the modifications made to their surfaces; for these modifications greatly affect the surface properties of nanoparticles and possibly their biological reactivity and toxicity as well.” 106 Assessment and risk management methods: a few observations and questions While there is still very little environmental and epidemiological data to support a process for assessing and managing the risk associated with nanotechnology-derived products, IRSST believes it has been clearly demonstrated that the degree of toxicity of nanoparticles is tied to their specific surface and resulting new properties, not their mass. 107 Yet studies to date have focused more on mass than the surface area or size of the particles; certain authorities believe this could lead to gross underestimation of the potential risk of nanoparticles. 108 In this regard, one should also consider that the structure of matter and the ratio of its mass to its specific surface can vary according to the nanometric dimension obtained and the matter itself; this means that a 90 nanometer particle of gold may have different properties from a 20 nanometer particle of gold, and that such differences may also be noted in other materials. Of course, this gives rise to an additional problem with regard to product characterization and seems to suggest that a case-by-case approach may be necessary. These changes in property raise the question of the approval required to market new products. Are nanotechnology-derived or -transformed products considered new products? While products known to present health or environmental risks must be submitted to control agencies like Health Canada or Environment Canada, what about products whose risks are unknown or uncertain? To approve the marketing of a product and guarantee consumers that it is safe for health and the environment, these agencies assess risk according to the nature and purpose of the product, not its manufacturing method or the possible transformation of its components. Can these processes take into account the specific 105 SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE ON EMERGING AND NEWLY IDENTIFIED HEALTH RISKS (SCENIHR), op. cit., p. 58. 106 INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE ROBERT-SAUVÉ EN SANTÉ ET EN SÉCURITÉ DU TRAVAIL (IRSST), Nanoparticles. Actual Knowledge about Occupational Health and Safety Risks and Prevention Measures, Claude OSTIGUY and associates, Report R-470, Studies and Research Projects, Gouvernement du Québec, September 2006, p. 71 [online] http://www.irsst.qc.ca/en/_publicationirsst_100189.html 107 INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE ROBERT-SAUVÉ EN SANTÉ ET EN SÉCURITÉ DU TRAVAIL (IRSST), Health Effects of Nanoparticles, op. cit., p. 43. 108 Ibid. Chapter 2 – Looking at methods for managing the sector 29
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Position Statement of the Commissio
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CONCLUSION It is with great curiosi
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GLOSSARY ∗ Atomic force microscop
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BIBLIOGRAPHY ∗ Sources cited: ABE
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APPENDIX 2 Summary of applications
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APPENDIX 3 Proposed taxonomy of the
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The Consultation and Information Ac
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MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION DE L’É
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