Nanotechnology: what is it and what are the dangers?
By Frank Barry, Unite health and
safety activist and Bud Hudspith, Unite health and safety
officer
I-pod Nano. The Nano car. Nano seems to be the
buzzword of the moment, when everything it seems has to be smarter
and tinier than ever before.
But nanoscience is not new. Researchers have
been studying the atomic properties of matter for as long as we can
remember.
What is new are the methods of investigating
nanomaterials and the exceptional properties of matter at the
nano-scale level.
A nanometer is a billionth of a meter and a
nanomaterial is an object that has at least one dimension in the
nanometer scale. Nanotechnology manipulates matter at the atomic
level.
On the nanoscale, properties of matter change
as a direct consequence of their tiny size. This means that a
material, say a metal, in nanosize form can assume properties very
different from those of the same material in bulk form.
For instance, bulk silver is non-toxic,
whereas silver particles are capable of killing viruses upon
contact. #
Nanotechnologies have far-reaching potential
in many fields including biotechnologies, medicine, information and
communication technologies, agriculture and the environment.
It is estimated the industry will need an
additional two to ten million workers across the world by 2014.
Many of these are likely to be created in Europe, mainly in start
up companies and SMEs.
The problem is that products are now being
placed on the market with little knowledge of what nanomaterials
are released from them and what their potential impact on human
health and the environment may be.
Workers all along the production chain, from
laboratories, through manufacture and transport to shop shelves,
cleaning, maintenance and waste management are being exposed to
these new materials despite question marks over safety.
Because there is a growing body of scientific
evidence suggesting that some manufactured nanomaterials harbour
new and unusual dangers, such as increased toxicity.
For instance, nano-scale carbon fibres can
considerably strengthen many materials. But they also display
characteristics of asbestos.
We simply don’t have enough information on
nanomaterials.
The European Trade Union Institute for
Research notes that significant uncertainties revolve around both
the benefits of nanotechnologies and its potential harmful
effects.
It is calling for at least 8% of national and
European public research budgets for nano technology and the
nano-sciences to be earmarked for health and environmental impact
research.
To begin to address the issue of ‘no data’ the
ETUI’s demand is ‘no data, no market’. Strict application of this
principle must be used to encourage industrialists to fill the gaps
in scientific knowledge about engineered nanomaterials and their
effects on humans and the environment.
Unite the Union joins with the ETUI in calling
for workers and their health and safety reps to be fully involved
in risk assessments and the selection of risk assessment management
measures without fear of retaliation or discrimination.
They are entitled to be informed of the nature
of the products present in the workplace. This requires labels and
material safety data sheets that must state whether nanomaterials
are present. If toxicology data is missing that must also be made
known to the representatives.
Unite has prepared a short questionnaire to
obtain information on the numbers of members who are working in the
field of nanomaterials in all sectors, whether in laboratories,
manufacturing, surface coatings, food and tobacco, cleaning or
maintenance.
We ask you to take a small amount of time to
complete it and return it to either frank.barry@enterprise-ireland.com or
bud.hudspith@unitetheunion.org
Click here
download the questionnaire
Frank Barry is a member of the Unite Irish
Executive, a partner in the EU project on Nanocap, a health and
safety specialist and a member of the ETUI
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