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Effects of Nanoparticles to BioSphere...

Posted by Technologist on February 11, 2009 at 2:06pm in NanoContacts
Dear NanoProfessionalsMe being newbie with an objectives to adapt any granted technology if and only if it is eco-friendly.I request my co-participants at this digital place to pay heed to justify the between facts and mythsPlease go through this articleNanoparticles in the Brain - ANOTHER STEALTHY OVERLOOKED CAUSE FOR GLOBAL EROSION OF ALL LIFETiny particles enter the brain after being inhaled -- Nanoparticles- tiny lumps of matter that could one day to be used to build faster computer circuits and improve drug delivery systems-can travel to the brain after being inhaled, according to researchers from the United States1. The finding sounds a cautionary note for advocates of nanotechnology, but may also lead to a fuller understanding of the health effects of the nanosized particles produced by diesel engines.Gunter Oberdorster of the University of Rochester in New York and colleagues tracked the progress of carbon particles that were only 35 nanometres in diameter and had been inhaled by rats. In the olfactory bulb-an area of the brain that deals with smell-nanoparticles were detected a day after inhalation, and levels continued to rise until the experiment ended after seven days. "These are the first data to show this," says Ken Donaldson, a toxicologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK. "I would never have thought of looking for inhaled nanoparticles in the brain."Substances such as drugs can cross from the brain into the blood, but Oberdorster believes that the carbon nanoparticles enter the brain by moving down the brain cells that pick up odours and transmit signals to the olfactory bulb. He says that unpublished work, in which his group blocked one of the rats' nostrils and tracked which side of the brain the nanoparticles reached, appears to confirm this.Little is known about what effect nanoparticles will have when they reach the brain. The toxicity of the nanoparticles that are currently being used to build prototype nanosized electronic circuits-such as carbon nanotubes, which are produced in labs around the world-has not been thoroughly assessed. But Donaldson says that there is a growing feeling that other nanoparticles, such as those produced by diesel exhausts, may be damaging to some parts of our body. He estimates that people in cities take in about 25 million nanoparticles with every breath. These particles are believed to increase respiratory and cardiac problems, probably by triggering an inflammatory reaction in the lungs. Oberdorster' s unpublished work includes evidence that some nanoparticles may trigger a similar inflammatory reaction in the brains of rats.Nanotechnology Linked to Organ Damage - Study (29 March 04) The first study to look at the health effects of microscopic, manufactured "nanoparticles" on aquatic animals has found troubling evidence that the molecules-which scientists are starting to make for research and industry-can trigger organ damage and other toxic effects. At modest concentrations in aquarium water, the minuscule particles-which are made of carbon atoms and are less than one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair-triggered damaging biochemical reactions in the brains of fish. They also wiped out entire populations of "water fleas," tiny animals that fill an ecologically crucial niche near the bottom of the aquatic food chain. The study, described at a scientific meeting Sunday, was small and has yet to be peer reviewed or published in a scientific journal. And although some companies anticipate making tons of the particles within the next few years, current production levels are relatively low, so the risk of exposure for humans and other animals is still quite small. Nonetheless, the findings underscore the growing recognition that the hot new field of nanotechnology, which federal officials have said will be at the heart of America's "next industrial revolution," may bring with it a number of old-fashioned trade-offs in terms of potential environmental damage and health risks. CLIPNanotechnology Threatens to Destroy the Global Trade in Commodities - Atomising Third World Economies (Oct 1, 04) (...) Reduce the market for cotton and don't be surprised by an upsurge in suicides among farmers in India. With every new wave of technology it's the poor and vulnerable who get swamped: a shift to nano-commodities will neither help them with new opportunities nor change any fundamental power relations.Like GM crops and pharmaceuticals, designer nano-materials come swathed in strong intellectual property protections, with patents and profit accruing entirely to Northern corporations. Nor is it clear that one environmental problem is not simply being swapped for another, since nano-fibres and nano-particles are far from receiving a clean bill of health: the UK's leading science academy the Royal Society has recommended a prohibition on environmental applications of nano-particles. We need strong global rules to ensure that new technologies are only deployed if the interests of the poor and the vulnerable are protected.

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