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CNS-UCSB Researchers Help Review Nanotechnology Safety Practices |
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October 26, 2006 |
A research team from the University of California, Santa Barbara has found that efforts to develop nanotechnology “best practices” have been hampered by a lack of empirical data about current environment, health and safety practices for handling nanomaterials in the workplace.
The team’s report, Current Knowledge and Practices Regarding Health and Safety in the Nanotechnology Workplace, was released on October 18, 2006 by the International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON), which funded the research on which the report is based. ICON is a coalition of academic, industrial, governmental and civil society organizations administered by Rice University’s Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN).
The report presents findings from the first of a two-phase study on nanotechnology best practices. For this part of the study, the UCSB team identified, then reviewed 18 efforts by researchers from around the world to document or define environmental health and safety practices (EH&S) used to protect employees in nanotechnology workplaces. The report found that these efforts do not yet provide a clear picture of current EH&S practices across nations and types of workplace settings. In addition, some of the data from these efforts are not publicly available, as they were prepared by consulting firms for private clients.
Among the report’s other findings:
• More research has been conducted on health and safety practices among manufacturers and commercial users of nanomaterials than in research labs and universities
• Most studies reviewed practices within a single nation rather than internationally
• The only large-scale surveys of industry practices completed to date were conducted by the German Federal Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (BAuA)
• A number of efforts to create risk management plans and guidelines for nanotechnology “best practices” are still in the developmental stages
• More research on nanotechnology best practices has been conducted in North America and the EU than in Asia
The report was authored by an interdisciplinary team of UCSB faculty and graduate student researchers from the natural and social sciences. The team was led by Dr. Patricia Holden, associate professor of environmental microbiology at UCSB’s Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management. Other Bren School researchers involved in the project were associate professor of corporate environmental management Dr. Magali Delmas, and Master of Environmental Science & Management (MESM) students Gina Gerritzen, Li-Chin Huang, Keith Killpack, and Maria Mircheva.
CNS-UCSB researchers contributing to this research included CNS co-director and medical anthropologist Dr. Barbara Herr Harthorn, UCSB sociology and global and international studies professor Dr. Richard Appelbaum, and sociology doctoral candidate Joseph Conti. The four faculty who worked on this study together served as the project’s Principal Investigators.
“As with all new technologies, nanotechnologies pose potential risks to human and environmental health and safety which must be identified and managed if we are to reap their full benefits,” noted Harthorn. “This study’s findings show that we still have a lot to learn about the nature of risks faced by nanoworkers and methods for minimizing them. We hope this report, in conjunction with the results from our phase two research, will provide baseline data that will assist the nanotechnology community in moving forward to address these concerns. These findings will also be useful to National Science Foundation-funded research projects we are conducting at CNS-UCSB on nanotechnology risk and society issues.”
The second phase of the ICON-UCSB study consists of a survey of nanotechnology health and safety practices based on interviews with individuals from U.S. and international firms. That report is scheduled for release by ICON on November 13, 2006.
A copy of the Phase I report can be found on the CNS website at CNS-UCSB Documents.
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Further information about the work of UCSB Bren School researchers on this project is available at http://www.bren.ucsb.edu/news/NanotechReportPhase1.htm.
To arrange an interview with Dr. Holden or other Bren School researchers, please contact James Badham by phone at (805) 893-5049, or by e-mail at james@bren.ucsb.edu.
For interviews with Dr. Harthorn or the other CNS members of the research team, contact Dr. Harthorn directly at harthorn@isber.ucsb.edu, or by phone at (805) 893-3350.
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Last Updated ( May 30, 2007 )
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