By Cheryl Pellerin
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – Even as nanotechnology (science on the scale of single atoms and molecules) produces increasingly important advances in the physical, biological and medical sciences, researchers and regulators around the world are examining its potential risks.

Nanotechnology involves imaging, measuring, manipulating and manufacturing things on a scale of between 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is 1 billionth of a meter; a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick.

“Human nature compels us to explore our surroundings, including risk-laden subjects such as genetic modification, nuclear fusion, stem cells, and the topic we’re addressing – nano stuff,” said Edward Samulski, a physical chemist from the University of North Carolina, during a weeklong rolling State Department webchat February 6-10.

Samulski is spending a year at the State Department as a Jefferson Science Fellow to provide expertise in the science and technology areas that affect U.S. policy decisions.

“We now have tools to manipulate atoms and build nanoscale structures,” he added. “Simultaneously, we are getting better at predicting risks and we must improve our ability to manage the side effects of all newly discovered phenomena ultimately for the betterment of the human race.”

About 80 consumer products that contain engineered nanomaterials are now on the market, including stain-resistant fabrics, cosmetics, sunscreens, tennis rackets and balls, golf balls, burn and wound dressings, water filtration, protective and glare-reducing coatings for eyeglasses and cars, ink, and many more.

More than 600 electronics components, raw materials, drug-delivery technologies and research, process and software tools are used to research nanoscale technologies, manipulate nanomaterials and fabricate at the nanoscale.

THE RISE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

Nanotechnology began as part of an after-dinner talk in 1959 by the late Richard Feynman, a Nobel laureate in physics, best-selling author and professor at the California Institute of Technology. He described molecular machines that could build with atomic precision.

Nearly two decades later, according to the Foresight Nanotech Institute website, the term “nano-technology” was first used in a scientific paper in 1974, and engineer and author Eric Drexler originated molecular nanotechnology concepts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977.

The scanning-tunneling microscope – which let scientists see details of atomic structures and manipulate the structures – was invented in 1981, the buckyball (pure carbon with a spherical shape and hollow interior) was discovered in 1985, the first university nanotechnology course was offered in 1988, and the carbon nanotube (carbon atoms that form extended hollow tubes) was discovered in 1991.

In the United States, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy report included coverage of molecular nanotechnology and molecular manufacturing in 1993, and the first European nanotechnology conference was held in 1996.

Between 1997 and 2000, NASA began work in computational nanotechnology, the first NSF conference was held, the first nanotechnology company (Zyvex in Texas) was formed, the first DNA-based nanomechanical device was developed, and then-President Clinton announced the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) – an 25-agency coordination office for nanotechnology research and development.

The organization of diverse research activities under the NNI has led to one of the biggest government investments in physical sciences research since the space program.

Since 2001, nanotechnology R&D has increased 175 percent, to $1.3 billion in 2007. The cumulative six-year nanotechnology investment is $6.5 billion under the Bush administration.

NSF predicts that the global marketplace for goods and services using nanotechnologies will grow to $1 trillion by 2015 and employ 2 million workers.

"By 2015,” said Mihail Roco, NSF senior adviser and a member of the U.S. National Science and Technology Council's subcommittee on nanoscale science, engineering and technology, “half of the new products will be made with nanoscale science and engineering."

NANOTECHNOLOGY REGULATION

In October 2005, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the manufacture of a new kind of carbon nanotube under the “low release and exposure exemption” of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

It was the first time the agency approved a new chemical specifically identified as being “nano.”

All major government environmental, health and safety regulations, like TSCA, were designed before nanomaterials and products existed.

This is important because, at the nanoscale, the physical, chemical and biological properties of materials differ in fundamental ways from the properties of individual atoms and molecules and bulk matter.

As a result, some experts question whether current regulations are adequate to monitor nanotechnology, which encompasses a broad range of technologies, processes and products.

One report, sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson International Center Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies and written by Senior Adviser J. Clarence Davies, addresses managing potential adverse effects of nanotechnology.

In “Managing the Effects of Nanotechnology,” Davies, a former EPA official who wrote the original version of TSCA, concluded that nanotechnology is difficult to address using existing regulations and that a new law may be required to manage potential nanotechnology risks.

In the meantime, according to an EPA fact sheet, the agency has taken a lead role in planning research directions for the environmental applications and implications of nanotechnology.

EPA has funded 32 research grants for more than $11 million in applying nanotechnology to protect the environment, and 12 research projects focus on studying the possible harmful effects of nanomaterials

In December 2005, the agency issued a draft nanotechnology report identifying critical questions that must be addressed to ensure the potential environmental, health and economic benefits of nanotechnology.

The report presents anticipated benefits and the management of potential negative impacts of nanotechnology. A final white paper is due out early in 2006.

Internationally, the inaugural meeting of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO – the leading developer of international standards) Technical Committee 229 - Nanotechnologies was held in London in November.

During the meeting, attendees decided that ISO/TC 229 will develop international nanotechnology standards through three working groups - terminology and nomenclature (chaired by Canada), metrology and characterization (chaired by Japan), and health, safety and the environment (chaired by the United States).

More information about nanotechnology is available at http://www.nano.gov.

A transcript of the online discussion with Samulski is available on the USINFO Web site.