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Scientists Question Possible Nanotech Risks
More and more companies are using nanotechnology(纳米技术) to improve their products, but many experts say safety research is trailing far behind the pace of commercialization and want the US Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies to regulate the emerging industry, more strongly. In the first single inventory of largely government funded research projects, the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies found that there is a need for more, resources, for a consistent risk-related research strategy and for public-private partnerships and international research cooperation.
Scientists manipulating matter at the molecular level have improved on hundreds of everyday products in recent years and are promising dramatic breakthroughs in medicine and other industries as billions of dollars a year are pumped into the newborn sector. But relatively little is known about the potential health and environmental effects of the tiny particles—just atoms wide and small enough to easily penetrate cells in lungs, brains and other organs.
While governments and businesses have begun pumping millions of dollars into researching such effects, scientists and others say nowhere near enough is being spent to determine whether nanomaterials pose a danger to human health. Michael Crichton"s bestselling book Prey paints a doomsday(世界末日) scene in which a large number of tiny nanomachines escapes the lab and threatens to overwhelm humanity. Scientists believe the potential threat from nanomaterials is more everyday than a terrible novel, but no less serious.
Studies have shown that some of the most promising carbon nanoparticles—including long, hollow nanotubes and sphere-shaped buckyballs—can be poisonous to animal cells. There are fears that exposure can cause breathing problems, as occurs with some other very small particles, that nanoparticles could be inhaled through the nose, bringing unknown damage on brain cells, or that nanotubes placed on the skin could damage DNA. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is developing guidelines for working with nanomaterials, saying the tiny particles may raise health concerns and the risk to those who work with them is unknown. Also unknown is the risk to consumers and the environment.
"No one knows, and that"s the problem," said Pat Roy Mooney, executive director of the ETC Group, an Ottawa-based nonprofit that studies the impact of technology on people and the environment. "People are rubbing them on our skin as sunscreens and as cosmetics(化妆品)." Mooney"s group is calling for products, such as sunscreen that are directly absorbed into the body, to be taken off the shelf until there is more study. "Frankly, I don"t think that skin creams or strain resistant pants are a good reason to sacrifice someone"s health," he said.
The federal government currently spends about $1 billion a year on nanotechnology research under its National Nanotechnology Initiative. A newly released inventory by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies found about $6 million being spent annually by the federal government on research that is highly focused on health and environmental effects of nanotechnology. Though the inventory is not a complete accounting of all research, it indicates that a small percentage of research dollars are going to health and safety, said Dave Rejeski, director of the non-partisan policy group. "More energy and more funding needs to go into it," said Kevin Ausman, executive director of the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology at Rice University in Texas. "There is not going to be a simple answer to the question "Is nanotechnology dangerous？"" he said.
But Ausman and others said the nanotechnology sector is ahead of the curve when it comes to understanding potential dangers, and is doing far more early research than has
A．Y
B．N
C．NG请帮忙给出正确答案和分析，谢谢！