Health & beauty

Nanotechnology

Updated: 08 Mar 2010
10mar-nanotech-hero

Introduction

Nanotechnology is making inroads into an ever-expanding range of consumer products.

This “science of the small” is touted as the panacea for everything from your smelly feet to your wrinkles. But it’s far from being a cure-all: there's a risk nanotechnology may do us more harm than good.

We want better regulation and consumer protection.

What is nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology uses materials on a tiny scale. One nanometre is equal to a billionth of a metre – that’s 1/80,000th the width of a human hair.
 
Nanomaterials aren’t new. Some occur naturally as a result of forest fires or volcanic emissions; others are produced as by-products of vehicle emissions. What is new is that advances in science now allow matter to be manipulated at the nano scale, leading to the development of nanotechnologies in many different fields from electronics to medicine.
 
Sunscreens are one of the ways consumers come in contact with nanomaterials: many now contain titanium dioxide or zinc oxide in nano form. This makes the creams transparent rather than white when they’re applied to your skin.
 
Our government invested around $17 million during 2009 in nanotechnology-related projects. Other countries are investing many more millions and the field is forecast to grow rapidly over the next decade.

Nanoproduct list

The Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars and the Pew Research Centre have compiled a list of over 1000 nanotechnology-based consumer products already on the market.
 
On the list are:

  • Clothing and household textiles made of wrinkle-, stain- and odour-resistant fabrics.
  • Sunscreens with nano-oxides of titanium or zinc.
  • Personal-care items with nanosilver, such as teeth cleaners, toothpaste, condoms, wound dressings, dummies and other baby products. 
  • Protective or self-cleaning coatings on buildings, furniture and appliances. 
  • Germ-fighting whiteware that contains nanosilver, such as washing machines. 
  • Smart foods and packaging including nutrient enriched and functional foods, nutrition supplements, and packaging infused with antibacterial nanosilver. 

The full list can be found at www.nanotechproject.org/inventories/consumer.

What's the problem?

Nanotechnology is already used in a range of products (see "Nanoproduct list"). However, knowledge about the potential health and environmental impacts of some uses of the technology lags well behind their commercial application.

In its 2008 report on nanotechnology, the UK’s Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution concluded there’s a “plausible case for concern" about some classes of nanomaterials. A major conclusion of this report is that nanomaterials are hugely variable in their nature and we don’t yet know enough about how they behave. Gold, the Commission points out, is inert in its natural form but becomes highly reactive when reduced to two to five nanometres.

It's the so-called “free nanoparticles” (such as those found in cosmetics) that the Commission says are likely to present the most immediate risks. Fixed nanoparticles in solid objects such as computers and phones have attracted less attention, though they may also pose a risk as the product degrades.

Health and environmental risks

Free nanoparticles are of particular concern to human health because they could enter the body through the lungs, skin or intestinal tract. What's not known is how long they’ll remain there, how much damage they may cause, and at what dose.

In the case of sunscreens containing nanoparticles, healthy skin is thought to provide an effective barrier – but there are unanswered questions about whether they can penetrate skin that’s broken because of sun damage, eczema, acne or wounds.

There are also significant unknowns about the effect of nanoparticles on the environment. Products containing nanosilver, which is used for its antibacterial properties, are a major issue. Silver is known to be highly toxic to aquatic life; the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution has fingered the use of nanosilver as a key concern.

In our March 2007 test of washing machines we tested a Samsung Silver Nano Health System J1255AV that used nanosilver particles as part of its washing action. We voiced our concerns then about the use of this technology and have seen no reason to change our view. You can get clean and sterile washing without using nanoparticles.

"Anti-ageing" creams

Applying face cream

Dr Brandt's Lineless Cream, available in shops here, claims to contain anti-ageing fullerenes. Fullerenes are tiny hollow carbon balls: the smallest one is called C60 and measures a mere nanometre across.
 
The US consumer organisation Consumers Union asked Harold Kroto and Robert Curl, who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry for constructing C60 fullerenes, whether their discovery should be used in cosmetics.

“I wouldn’t put C60 on my skin,” Kroto said. Curl agreed, saying he wouldn’t expose himself “to a new substance for essentially trivial reasons".

Regulation needed

Nanotechnology

Calls for regulating nanotechnology better are on the increase around the world. New Zealand’s no exception.

Stephanie Howard from the Sustainablity Council believes regulators here have taken a lax approach to the growing use of nanotechnology in consumer products. “New Zealand’s current policy is broadly to allow all comers on to the market and hope that nothing goes wrong. Government apparently doesn’t know what products are on the market: there’s no risk assessment, no official register of products containing nanomaterials and no post-market monitoring.”
 
The Sustainablity Council says there are many products available in our stores that are believed to contain nanomaterials. As well as high-end cosmetics, these products include sportswear, soap, shampoo, cleaning fluid and washing machines. It says these products have been able to creep on to the market without regulatory scrutiny.
 
Dr Simon Brown, associate professor in physics at Canterbury University, agrees. “The default position has been to do nothing. There’s a very significant number of products in shops and current regulations don’t police them,” he says. “There’s no shortage of areas of concern about nanomaterials. We simply don’t know enough about the risks they pose and there’s a strong argument for sensible precautions to be put in place."
 
The Ministry of Research, Science and Technology is the lead government agency for nanotechnology. In response to mounting criticisms, it’s announced a review of existing legislation to assess whether our laws are adequate for dealing with nanotechnology developments. However, the results of this review aren’t due out until July 2010 at the earliest.

Nano foods

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) argues that the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code provides consumer protection for food substances derived from nanotechnology. This is because all manufacturers have to guarantee that their products are safe before they can be sold. According to FSANZ it will conduct “a rigorous safety assessment with the best available scientific evidence” before approving food substances containing nanotechnology.
 
What that stance leaves open is what happens if scientific research shows that some nanotechnology food products or types of packaging are no longer safe. We think it should take a more precautionary approach until more is known about the effect of nanotechnology in this area.

Consumer protection

There are several ways consumer protection needs to be improved.

Labelling

Current rules don’t require manufacturers to state whether a product contains nanomaterials. This needs to change. We want to see mandatory labelling of all products containing these materials, so consumers can make a choice about whether they want to buy them.

Reporting

Companies should also be required to report their use of nanomaterials. Regulations already require companies to notify the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) if they intend to import or manufacture cosmetics containing nanoparticles. ERMA says it hasn’t received any notifications. However, we’ve found cosmetics containing nanoparticles in stores (see "Anti-ageing creams"). Better enforcement is clearly needed.

Safety

Consumer safety must be a priority. Safety assessments should be mandatory for all manufactured nanoparticles in consumer products. There are some big questions to be answered about the safety of nanotechnologies – and until they’re answered positively we think the government should take a precautionary approach to the use of these materials.

 

Our view

  • Nanotechnology has potential benefits. But lack of understanding about the health and environmental impacts of some nanoparticles presents significant risks. We think regulatory agencies should take a more precautionary approach.
  • Consumer protection needs to be improved. Legislation must provide adequate safeguards to ensure consumers are not put at unnecessary risk. At a minimum, products containing nanoparticles need to be labelled.
 
More information

 

Report by Jessica Wilson.