9
Sep
2006

Scientists Worry About Risks of Nanotechnology in Food

Friday , September 08, 2006

By Charles Q. Choi

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,212815,00.html

In the next five years, dozens of food and agricultural products based on nanotechnology may come to market, including a chocolate milkshake that supposedly tastes better and is more nutritious than conventional shakes and chicken-feed additives that can remove dangerous germs from poultry intended for human consumption.

However, some investigators think more research needs to be done on the environmental, health and safety risks posed by nutritional nanotechnology.

One group's findings were detailed in a report released Thursday by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

"This should serve as a wake-up call," researcher Jennifer Kuzma, a biochemist and risk policy expert at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis, told LiveScience. "We have an opportunity to see what is in the future and to focus on health and safety research now."

Invisible technology

Nanotechnology deals with construction blocks only nanometers — billionths of a meter — large, much smaller than wavelengths of visible light. At that scale, ordinary substances can take on properties radically different than those found in their bulk counterparts.

For instance, while gold is normally chemically inert — which keeps gold rings lustrous even as iron rusts and brass tarnishes — gold nanoparticles can prove highly reactive.

Nanotechnology takes advantage of these novel traits for use in a wide and growing range of applications — but it's not clear whether nanoparticles, nanotubes and other nanoscale components might have unforeseen consequences for humans or the environment.

For example, data is conflicting about whether carbon nanotubes are highly toxic, or perfectly safe.

To see what products might be coming down the pipeline, Kuzma and her research assistant Peter VerHage, supplemented by data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, analyzed federally funded research and development projects oriented toward food and agriculture.

The U.S. government invests about $1.2 billion annually on nanotechnology research.

Kuzma and VerHage discovered 160 such projects, and think that more than 30 could produce commercially viable applications within the next five years.

As for the rest, most of them have the potential to generate a commercial product in the next 15 years, they added.

Food products

Most of the projects are focused on the food industry. Examples include wrappers that can detect whether or not food is safe to eat and nanomaterials aimed at enhancing the biological activity of dietary supplements.

Kuzma and VerHage also found several agricultural projects, including some which focused on developing nanomaterials to neutralize pollutants and others that dealt with building extremely sensitive devices to monitor how water flows through farmlands.

"What concerns me," said Kuzma, "is that there is not enough information on the toxicity of some nanomaterials mentioned with regard to food and agriculture — for instance, carbon nanotubes, or silver or titanium dioxide nanoparticles."

One project proposes to use carbon nanotubes on the surfaces of milk pasteurization equipment to prevent the equipment from getting fouled.

"I don't know whether that's a good idea or not," she said. "That's the point. We don't have enough information as a society to decide that.

"The most important aspect of the database we created is that anyone can search it, to help people think about the future and anticipate policy and risk issues," she added.

Copyright © 2006 Imaginova Corp. All Rights Reserved.


Informant: binstock

"Electro-Magnetic Fields--EMF in Homes, Schools and Workplaces--Dangers of "Dirty Electricity" on Humans and Animals

Thank you again for the informative references you brought to our attention. I am making a presentation this month to a local civic organization in East Lansing, MI. I have prepared an educational DVD entitled "Electro-Magnetic Fields--EMF in Homes, Schools and Workplaces--Dangers of "Dirty Electricity" on Humans and Animals."

I was especially happy to know that Tenet is developing new high-voltage lines featuring reduced magnetic field intensity. I've been measuring current near 46 kV lines on a farm and find that the electrons travel more than 200 meters from the conductor and overlap with cell phone communication signals.

Donald Hillman,
Ph.D. Professor Emeritus,
Michigan State University

Stellungnahme zur E-Smog Gesundheitsvorsorge

----- Original Message -----

From: Dr. Erwin Tripes e.tripes_at_risiko-elektrosmog.at
To: SPÖ klub@spoe.at ; Grüner Klub im Parlament infopool@gruene.at ; Klub der ÖVP office@oevpclub.at
Cc: Österr. Ärztekammer post_at_aerztekammer.at
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 2:38 PM

Subject: Stellungnahme zur E-Smog Gesundheitsvorsorge

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren!

Anverwahrt erhalten Sie ein attachment zu Ihrer gefälligen Information, weil Herr Dr. Lopatka namens der ÖVP Aussagen zum vermeintlichen Schutz vor Mobilfunkstrahlung verbreitet, die nicht unwidersprochen bleiben dürfen.

http://www.omega-news.info/stellungnahme_zur_oevp_leitlinie.doc


MfG

Dr. jur.Erwin Tripes
Obmann des Vereins
Risiko Elektrosmog Kärnten

Omega-News Collection 9. September 2006

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Is Iran next?
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RFID
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EMF-Omega-News 9. September 2006
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EMF-Omega-News 9. September 2006

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Next-up news 9 09 2006
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Justice for G.I.s? Say Iraq Uranium Caused Ills

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Human Rights: Native American

A message from Dagmar

Original Message

Wounded Knee Protection Petition - Denounce Illegal Designation
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/929529094

Protect the Yellowstone Buffalo - The Last Wild Herd
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/395560384

Petition Against Anti-Indian Racism in Oklahoma
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/128408562

Free Leonard Peltier
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/244135023
&
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/petition-sign.cgi?Clemency

Support Renewable Energy on Native American Land
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/798556737

Petition For The Pardon and Release of Abused Vietnam Veteran & Veteran Advocate Iron ThunderHorse
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/286295701

Stop Lower Yosemite Falls Project
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/814661225

Cherokeewinds Natives Holiday
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/841059601

Discrimination Against Native American Brothers Imprisoned Religious Beliefs
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/328150301

Let the True descendants be heard
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/469295343
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