the need for a balanced approach to nanotechnology development
TRANSCRIPT
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
The Need for a Balanced
Approach to Nanotechnology
DevelopmentCaroline (Cal) Baier-Anderson
Senior Health Scientist
Environmental Defense Fund
Washington, DC USA
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Balanced Approach to Nanotechnology
Nano Benefits/Nano Harms?• Potential applications in nearly every business sector
– Consumer products, health care, transportation, energy and agriculture
– Responsible development requires consideration of implications as well as benefits
• Framework for identifying and considering potential health and environmental impacts
– Life cycle perspectives
– Principles of green chemistry
– Alternatives analysis
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Balanced Approach to Nanotechnology
Life Cycle Perspectives
• Risks and benefits
assessed
throughout product
life cycles
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Balanced Approach to Nanotechnology
Lifecycle Pitfalls
• Oversimplification
Energy efficiency + Toxic Waste ≠ Green Product
• Green tradeoffs
e.g., decreased hazard vs. greater water use
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ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Balanced Approach to Nanotechnology
Green Chemistry
• Prevent waste
• Design safer chemicals and products
• Design less hazardous chemical syntheses
• Use renewable feedstocks
• Use catalysts, not stoichiometric reagents
• Avoid chemical derivatives
• Maximize atom economy
• Use safer solvents and reaction conditions
• Increase energy efficiency
• Design chemicals and products to degrade after use
• Analyze in real time to prevent pollution
• Minimize the potential for accidents
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Balanced Approach to Nanotechnology
Alternatives Analysis
• Compare nano to conventional chemicals
• Identify safer alternatives
– Replacement with less hazardous chemical;
– Elimination of the need for the chemical through material change, product re-design, or product replacement;
– Eliminating the chemical by altering the functional demands for the product through changes in consumer demand, workplace organization or product use
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Balanced Approach to Nanotechnology
Weighing Hazard
Hazard
Critica
lity
High Hazard/
Low Criticality
Low Hazard/
Low Criticality
High Hazard/
High Criticality
Low Hazard/
High Criticality
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Balanced Approach to Nanotechnology
Exposure Considerations
• Notable failures decreased trust in risk assessment
– Brominated flame retardants
– Bisphenol A
• Accurate prediction of exposure to nanomaterials critical to sustainable development
– Fate & transport of nanomaterials in the environment
– Disposition in biological organisms
– Exposure scenarios vary throughout lifecycle
• Special considerations for children’s exposures
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Balanced Approach to Nanotechnology
Role of Risk Assessment?
• Framework based on Hazard x Exposure
– Process can be overkill
– Limitations difficult to quantify
– Results oversimplified
• Hazard-driven approaches
– Hazard reduction as first principle
– Incorporating exposure considerations
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Balanced Approach to Nanotechnology
Sir Bradford Hill’s Admonition
• "All scientific work is incomplete – whether it be observational or experimental. All scientific work is liable to be upset or modified by advancing knowledge. That does not confer upon us a freedom to ignore the knowledge we already have, or to postpone the action that it appears to demand at a given time."
– Hill AB: The environment and disease: association or causation? Proc R Soc Med 1965, 58:295-300.
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND
Balanced Approach to Nanotechnology
Charge to Presenters
• What is the environmental benefit and who are the beneficiaries? Is it measurable? What opportunities exist to further enhance environmental benefits (e.g., finding ways to more cleanly or efficiently produce the nanomaterials)?
– What is meant by benefits and what are the tradeoffs?
• Given life cycle considerations for the nanomaterial application, what is (or are) the most important, compelling, or relevant exposure scenarios that must be addressed? What data are needed to conduct a comprehensive exposure assessment for this scenario? What data are currently available, what are the data gaps, and what are the obstacles to collecting additional data?
– As production moves forward ahead of knowledge what should we be on the lookout for?
• What are the barriers and suggestions for a path forward to enhancing benefits and minimizing risks?