Nanotechnology: Newsroom Archive

ETUC wants precautionary principle applied to nanotechnologies
June 26, 2008 - Nanotechnology is a fast-growing field of activity in many sectors of industry, especially the chemical, pharmaceutical and electronics industries. As a result, the number of workers coming into contact with nanomaterials – objects whose size is measured in billionths of a metre – is set to rise sharply in the coming years. The ETUC is convinced that nanotechnologies and manufactured nanomaterials might have considerable development and application potential.
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Safety Studies on Nanoparticles Lag Behind Technology
June 1, 2008 - You can't see them, but they're everywhere, from stain-resistant pants to antibacterial bandages to deflation-proof tennis balls. They're nanoparticles, microscopic substances less than one one-thousandth the width of a human hair.
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The tiny, Useful Particle That Could Also be a Health ProblemNanosilver Ends up in Sewers, Rivers and Lakes
May 18, 2008 - "The new controversy is, should it be incorporated into sweatshirts and shoes?" wonders Kevin Robbie, a physics professor at Queen's University in Kingston and the Canada Research Chair in Nanostructured Materials. "Generally it's not a very good idea."
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Nanoparticles Scrutinized for Health Effects
May 12, 2008 - Windows cleaned by raindrops, white sofas immune to red wine spills, tiles protected from limescale buildup - new products created from minute substances called nanoparticles are making such domestic dreams come true.
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The (Nano)Silver Bullet
May 02, 2008 - Your toothpaste may be a pesticide. So might your electric razor, your computer keyboard, and your child's teddy bear. These products, and scores of others, combine one of the world's oldest disinfectants--silver--with one of its hottest new industries: nanotechnology.
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Toxic Socks - Silver nanoparticles intended to control odor release in the wash
April 14, 2008, - Arizona State University researchers have found that socks impregnated with odor-fighting silver nanoparticles release the nanoparticles when washed. This study, the first to examine how nanoparticles are released from commercially available clothing raises concerns about silver particles leaching into wastewater and the environment.
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Nanoparticles Leaching into Environment
April 10, 2008 - Scientists are raising alarms about toxic nanoparticles being woven into fabrics as "odor neutralizers" in socks and as antibacterial agents in bandages.
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Nanotech Raises 'Toxic Sock' Alert
April 10, 2008 - The smell from your socks might not be the only toxic thing around, a US chemistry conference has heard. Silver nanoparticles, used for years to kill bacteria and eliminate odours in socks, food containers, medical dressings and even teddy bears, might be a threat to the environment, according to new research.
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Stinky Sock Treatment May Pose Eco Hazard
April 9, 2008 - The smell from your socks might not be the only toxic thing around. Silver nanoparticles, used for years to kill bacteria and eliminate odors in socks, food containers, medical dressings and even teddy bears, might be a threat to the environment, according to new research.
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Die Spur der Silbersocke
April 8, 2008 (Germany) - Die Forschungsobjekte, mit denen sich Troy Benn von der Arizona State University in seiner Doktorarbeit beschäftigt, hat er im Kaufhaus besorgt: Socken - sechs verschiedene Marken. Die Textilien haben aber alle eines gemeinsam: Sie sollen laut Angaben der Hersteller Nanosilber enthalten.
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Study Warns of the Danger of Nanosilver
April 8, 2008 Bob Hoffman of Political Gateway. Registration required to view article.
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Big Worries About Micro Particles
April 7, 2008 - The next "it" product is here. Some of you sleep on it. Some of you slap it on cuts. Some of you clean with it. Some babies suck on it. A few people study it, wondering if "it" will be an environmental and health disaster.
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Tiny Silver Particles in Clothing May Lead to Pollution, Research Suggests
April 7, 2008 - In the unknowns of emerging nanotechnology, researchers are wondering if the science behind trendy no-smell socks, underwear and hunting gear might create unintended consequences in the environment.
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Small risks
April 7, 2008 - Valued for it’s antibacterial and odour-fighting properties, nanoparticle silver is becoming the star attraction in a range of products from socks to bandages. But now, two US researchers are recommending a closer examination of its consequences to the environment.
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Nanoparticle Fear Over Anti-Odour Socks
April 7, 2008 - Safety fears were raised yesterday about the use of minute "nanoparticles" of silver to make non smelly socks and infection-fighting bandages.
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Smelly Sock Treatment Leaks Silver Nanoparticles
April 7, 2008 - Silver nanoparticles added to socks to kill the bacteria associated with smelly feet can easily leak into waste water during washing, a new study reveals.
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Nanotechnology: The Big News is Small
Americans are famous for building big: the tallest sky scraper, the biggest jet, the widest plasma TV screen. But now U.S. entrepreneurs are considering thinking small. Nanotechnology uses particles 80,000 times smaller than a human hair; yet the new technology has the potential to quickly clean up pollution, cure serious illnesses, and make the computer silicon chip obsolete.
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STAR Grantee Develops Potentially Inexpensive Nanotube Solar Technology
Somenath Mitra, along with researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), has developed a potentially cheap solar technology which can be painted or printed on flexible plastic sheets. The benefits could be enormous to the consumer, producer, and the environment.
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Nanoparticle-Anchored Plasticizers
With support from EPA’s SBIR Program, TDA Research, Inc., developed a system that softens plastics by forming a polymer nanocomposite that does not become brittle and contaminate its surroundings by leaching its plasticizer.
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New Approaches to Nanotechnology on NPR
Two representatives from NNI agencies were featured on a National Public Radio Program, produced in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Jeffery Schloss and Dr. Nora Savage.Two representatives from NNI agencies, Jeffery Schloss , Co-Chair, Trans-NIH Nano Taskforce, National Institutes of Health and Nora Savage, Environmental Engineer, Office of Research & Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were featured on The Kojo Nnamdi Show , a news magazine program on WAMU (88.5 FM), American University Radio in Washington, D.C. [Read More]

NWRI Funds Recovery of Metal Ions from Membrane Concentrates by Dendrimer-Enhanced Filtration

Dr. Mamadou Diallo, EPA STAR researcher, is examining to examine the feasibility of removing metals from the leftover wastes of water treatment processes by using a nanotechnology-based technology. This work, funded by the National Water Research Institute represents a furtherance of Diallo's EPA research grant, (R829626) - Dendritic Nanoscale Chelating Agents: Synthesis, Characterization, Molecular Modeling and Environmental Applications, in its last year.

Dendrimers are monodisperse and highly branched nanostructures with controlled composition and architecture. The title of the NWRI project is “Recovery of Metal Ions from Membrane Concentrates by Dendrimer- Enhanced Filtration”. Diallo is currently Director of Molecular Environmental Technology at the Materials and Process Simulation Center of the Beckman Institute at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), as well as Visiting Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at Howard University in Washington, DC. An Environmental Engineer with a background in molecular physical chemistry, Diallo states that “The purpose of this research is to merge nanotechnology with water purification processes. It’s a tall order, but it’s also an opportunity to develop a new generation of water purification technologies that can help us remove some of the most difficult-to-remove contaminants.”

EPA Scientists Co-Edit Special Journal Issues

Drs. Barbara Karn and Nora Savage have served as co-editors on two recent special journal issues.

Karn and Dr. Wei-xian Zhang of Lehigh University are co-editors of a special edition of Environmental Science and Technology published on March 1, 2005. The issue, entitled "Nanotechnology: Special Issue" volume 39, number 5, featured twenty-eight (28) articles by prominent researchers in the field on nanotechnology and the environment. A feature article, "Environmentally Responsible Development of Nanotechnology" was written by Dr. Mihail Roco of the National Science Foundation and Chair of the U.S. National Science and Technology Council's subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology.

Savage and Dr. Mamadou Diallo of Howard University and the California Institute of Technology are co-editors of a special edition, June 2005, of the Journal of Nanoparticle Research, "Nanoparticles and Water Quality" . The issue features an introductory article, co-written by Savage and Diallo, entitled "Nanomaterials and Water Purification: Opportunities and Challenges". There are an additional sixteen (16) articles in this issue on the topic of nanotechnology and water quality.