Nanotechnology White Paper - US Environmental Protection Agency

More documents

Recommendations

Info

52 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper 3.6 Human Health Effects of Nanomaterials There is a significant gap in our knowledge of the environmental, health, and ecological implications associated with nanotechnology (Dreher, 2004; Swiss Report, 2004; UK Royal Society, 2004; European NanoSafe, 2004; UK Health and Safety Executive, 2004). This section provides an overview of currently available information on the toxicity of nanoparticles; much of the information is for natural or incidentally formed nanosized materials, and is presented to aid in the understanding of intentionally produced nanomaterials. 3.6.1 Adequacy of Current Toxicological Database The Agency’s databases on the health effects of particulate matter (PM), asbestos, silica, or other toxicological databases of similar or larger sized particles of identical chemical composition (U.S. EPA, 1986, 1996, 2004) should be evaluated for their potential use in conducting toxicological assessments of intentionally produced nanomaterials. The toxicology chapter of the recent Air Quality Criteria for Particulate Matter document cites hundreds of references describing the health effects of ambient air particulate matter including ultrafine ambient air (PM0.1), silica, carbon, and titanium dioxide particles (U.S. EPA, 2004). However, it is important to note that ambient air ultrafine particles are distinct from intentionally produced nanomaterials since they are not purposely engineered and represent a physicochemical and dynamic complex mixture of particles derived from a variety of natural and combustion sources. In addition, only approximately five percent of the references cited in the current Air Quality Criteria for Particulate Matter document describe the toxicity of chemically defined ultrafine particles, recently reviewed by Oberdörster et al. (2005a) and Donaldson et al. (2006). A search of the literature on particle toxicity studies published up to 2005 confirms the paucity of data describing the toxicity of chemically defined ultrafine particles and, to an even greater extent, that of intentionally produced nanomaterials (Figure 20). The ability to assess the toxicity of intentionally produced carbon nanotubes by extrapolating from the current carbonparticle toxicological database was examined by Lam et al. (2004) and Warheit et al. (2004). Their findings demonstrate that graphite is not an appropriate safety reference standard for carbon nanotubes, since carbon nanotubes displayed very different mass-based dose-response relationships and lung histopathology when directly compared with graphite.
EPA Nanotechnology White Paper Figure 20. Particle Toxicology Citations. Results depict the number of toxicological publications for each type of particle obtained from a PubMed search of the literature up to 2005 using the indicated descriptors and the term “toxicity.” Uf denotes ultrafine size (
Page 1:
Offce of the Science Advisor Scienc
Page 4 and 5:
ii EPA Nanotechnology White Paper D
Page 6 and 7:
iv EPA Nanotechnology White Paper S
Page 8 and 9:
vi EPA Nanotechnology White Paper A
Page 10 and 11:
viii EPA Nanotechnology White Paper
Page 12 and 13:
x EPA Nanotechnology White Paper AC
Page 14 and 15:
xii EPA Nanotechnology White Paper
Page 16 and 17: 2 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper EP
Page 18 and 19: 4 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper 1.
Page 20 and 21: 6 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper Fi
Page 22 and 23: 8 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper Fi
Page 24 and 25: 10 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper (
Page 26 and 27: 12 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper s
Page 30 and 31: 16 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper f
Page 32 and 33: 18 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper o
Page 34 and 35: 20 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper 1
Page 38 and 39: 24 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper i
Page 40 and 41: 26 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper T
Page 42 and 43: 28 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper v
Page 44 and 45: 30 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper R
Page 48 and 49: 34 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper p
Page 50 and 51: 36 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper i
Page 54 and 55: 40 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper f
Page 56 and 57: 42 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper F
Page 58 and 59: 44 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper T
Page 60 and 61: 46 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper P
Page 64 and 65: 50 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper o
Page 70 and 71: 56 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper e
Page 72 and 73: 58 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper E
Page 74 and 75: 60 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper A
Page 76 and 77: 62 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper e
Page 78 and 79: 64 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper F
Page 80 and 81: 66 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper U
Page 86 and 87: 72 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper
Page 94 and 95: 80 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper c
Page 102 and 103: 88 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper R
Page 110 and 111: 96 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper D
Page 112 and 113: 98 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper K
Page 116 and 117:
102 EPA Nanotechnology White Paper
Page 118 and 119:
Page 120 and 121:
Page 122 and 123:
Page 124 and 125:
Page 126 and 127:
Page 128 and 129:
Page 130 and 131:
Page 132 and 133:
Page 134:
show all

Nanotechnology White Paper - US Environmental Protection Agency

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?