Nanotechnology – What is
it? Are there hazards?
Authored by:
Robert E. Sheriff, CIH, CSP
CEO & President
Atlantic Environmental, Inc.
This is the first of a series articles on the emerging field
of Nanotechnology.
What is it?
In short – small! Very small! Very, very small!
Nanotechnology comes from the prefix Nano which, in English,
means 1/billionth, just as micro means 1/millionth. So
Nanotechnology involves 2 things: 1) extremely small man-made
materials – some even as small as 1 atom thick,
generally referred to as Nanoparticles. Examples are the
memory chips for iPods® and even new sunscreens, and
2) extremely small particles that are emitted from some
process or activity. These are called Ultra Fine Particles.
Welding fumes are an example.
Without getting into too much detail in this article
(we’re saving the details for later issues), both
Nanoparticles and Ultra Fine Particles can cause health
problems.
It was previously thought that if these ultra small particles
were inhaled, they would simply be exhaled without being
retained in the lungs. Recent information suggests that
this is not true. Due to the phenomenon called Brownian
Motion nanoparticles are buffeted by atoms and molecules
of gases and vapors, which push them onto lung surfaces
where they remain.
Further, it was thought they were so small and light
that they would have little or no effect on the human
body. Not so! Even though they are small and light, in
total they have tremendous surface area that allows much
greater likelihood of reacting with the cells in our body.
Finally, technology now allows us to detect and study
the effect of extremely small amounts of chemicals and
particles on cells, molecules, and individual genes. We
are thus finding that small particles can have detrimental
effects on our bodies.
Is this complex? Yes! Is it confusing? Yes! In future
issues, we will clarify, talk about the hazards as they
are known; ways to measure and how to prevent health hazards.
Atlantic Environmental Inc
2 East Blackwell Street
Dover, NJ 07801
(800) 344-4414
(973) 366-4660
(973) 366-3116 Fax
info@atlenv.com
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