Nanotech-enabled Consumer Products Top the 1,000 Mark

WASHINGTON – Nanotech consumer products have now crossed the millennial threshold.

Over 1,000 nanotechnology-enabled products have been made available to consumers around the world, according to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN). The most recent update to the group’s three-and-a-half-year-old inventory reflects the increasing use of the tiny particles in everything from conventional products like non-stick cookware and lighter, stronger tennis racquets, to more unique items such as wearable sensors that monitor posture.

“The use of nanotechnology in consumer products continues to grow rapidly,” says PEN Director David Rejeski. “When we launched the inventory in March 2006 we only had 212 products. If the introduction of new products continues at the present rate, the number of products listed in the inventory will reach close to 1,600 within the next two years. This will provide significant oversight challenges for agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and Consumer Product Safety Commission, which often lack any mechanisms to identify nanotech products before they enter the marketplace.”

Health and fitness items continue to dominate the PEN inventory, representing 60 percent of products listed. More products are based on nanoscale silver—used for its antimicrobial properties—than any other nanomaterial; 259 products (26 percent of the inventory) use silver nanoparticles. The updated inventory represents products from over 24 countries, including the US, China, Canada, and Germany. This update also identifies products that were previously available, but for which there is no current information.

The release of the updated inventory coincides with a public hearing on the agenda and priorities of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) where project director David Rejeski testified. The CPSC, with a staff of fewer than 400 employees, oversees the safety of 15,000 types of consumer products.

Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor for PEN, noted that “the CPSC deserves credit for focusing on nanotechnologies. The resources available to the agency to address health and safety issues are negligible compared to the over $1.5 billion federal investment in nanotechnology research and development.”

The inventory is available at http://www.nanotechproject.org/inventories/consumer/

The PEN consumer products inventory includes products that have been identified by their manufacturer or a credible source as being nanotechnology-based. This update identifies products that were previously sold, but which may no longer be available. It remains the most comprehensive and widely used source of information on nanotechnology-enabled consumer products in the world.

Nanotechnology In Food Production

Industry analysts and proponents predict that nanotechnology will be used to transform food from the atom up: “Thanks to nanotechnology, tomorrow’s food will be designed by shaping molecules and atoms. Food will be wrapped in “smart” safety packaging that can detect spoilage or harmful contaminants. Future products will enhance and adjust their color, flavor, or nutrient content to accommodate each consumer’s taste or health needs. And in agriculture, nanotechnology promises to reduce pesticide use, improve plant and animal breeding, and create new nano-bioindustrial products” – or so states the US Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies’ recent report on the use of nanotechnology in food and agriculture (available at http://www.nanotechproject.org).

The food and agriculture industries have been investing billions of dollars into nanotechnology research, with an unknown number of unlabeled nano food products already on the market. In the absence of mandatory product labelling anywhere in the world, it is impossible to tell how many commercial food products now contain nano ingredients. The Helmut Kaiser Consultancy Group, a pro-nanotechnology analyst, suggests that there are now over 300 nano food products available on the market worldwide. It estimates that the global nano food market was worth US$5.3 billion in 2005 and will rise to US$20.4 billion by 2010. It predicts that nanotechnology will be used in 40% of the food industries by 2015.

There are four key focus areas for nanotechnology food research:
• Nano-modification of seed and fertilisers/ pesticides
• Food ‘fortification’ and modification
• Interactive ‘smart’ food
• ‘Smart’ packaging and food tracking

Nanotechnology Application In Car Industry

Another possible application for nanotechnology is in the area of fuel cell technology and with respect to efficient pollutant filters. The target in this case is to drastically reduce fuel consumption, pollutant emissions and vehicle wear. One possible first step could be the coating of the inlet valves of catalytic converters. In the case of direct injection petrol engines, burnt fuel re-enters the combustion chamber through these inlet valves, and as a rule, unwanted hydrocarbons then deposit themselves inside the chamber. A catalytic valve coating breaks them up and prevents depositing from taking place. BMW has already introduced onto the market a catalytically coated filter system for diesel cars that is able to function without any need for additional fuel. In the distant future filters could be developed that, with the help of nanopores or forests of carbon nano-tubes, are able to capture pollutants even more efficiently. Adding nano-additives to petrol or cylinder walls could even result in catalytic converters being made redundant altogether. A definite timeframe for the introduction of these technological innovations has yet to be drawn up, however.

The engineers in BMW's materials concepts and simulations department are looking into all the various possible applications of nanotechnology, and in each area one engineer is responsible for keeping an eye on the technology, so that synergies can be used and possible applications discussed. According to Nikolaides there is no doubt whatsoever that the little helpers will facilitate driving in the future. Drivers, however, should dispel themselves of the notion that one day the existence of little nano-robots will result in problem-free driving. "That", says BMW's nanospecialist, "is something firmly in the realm of science fiction."

Nanotech-enabled Consumer Products Continue to Rise

WASHINGTON – Nanotech consumer products continue to grow at a consistent pace.

According to the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) over 1,300 manufacturer-identified, nanotechnology-enabled products have entered the commercial marketplace around the world. The most recent update to the group’s five-year-old inventory reflects the continuing use of the tiny particles in everything from conventional products like non-stick cookware to more unique items such as self-cleaning window treatments.

“The use of nanotechnology in consumer products continues to grow on a rapid and consistent basis,” says PEN Director David Rejeski. “When we launched the inventory in March 2006 it contained 212 products. If the current trend continues, the number of products could reach 3,400 by 2020.”

Health and fitness items continue to dominate the PEN inventory, representing 56 percent of products listed. More products are based on nanoscale silver—used for its antimicrobial properties—than any other nanomaterial; 313 products (24 percent of the inventory) use silver nanoparticles. The updated inventory represents products from over 30 countries, including the US, China, Canada, Germany, and India. This update also identifies products that were previously available, but for which there is no current information.

“The initial goal of the inventory was to help educate consumers and encourage regulatory bodies to build internal capacity to track products. Unfortunately, as more and more nano-enabled products enter the marketplace, and despite ten years and billions of dollars of investment through the National Nanotechnology Initiative, oversight challenges for agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Product Safety Commission still exist,” according to Dr. Todd Kuiken, a research associate with PEN.

With an ever increasing number of products becoming available from countries outside the U.S., environmental health and safety research strategies will need to be better coordinated. The release of the updated inventory preceeds a joint US-EU workshop, sponsored by the U.S. National Nanotechnology Coordination Office, which is designed to bridge environmental health and safety research strategies. Bridging NanoEHS Research Effort:/A joint US-EU Workshop will be held March 10-11 in Washington, D.C. To learn more visit www.nano.gov.

The PEN consumer products inventory includes products that have been identified by their manufacturer or a credible source as being nanotechnology-based. This update identifies products that were previously sold, but which may no longer be available. It remains the most comprehensive and widely used source of information on nanotechnology-enabled consumer products in the world.

2011 RISD Nanovation Winners Announced

Advancements in nanotechnology may one day save your life by improving safety in your car, providing water in the desert, or protecting firefighters in a burning building. The Rhode Island School of Design announced the winners of the 2011 Nanovation Prize, a competition that encourages design innovation made possible through nanotechnology. This year’s winners ranged from smarter crash test dummies to an innovative water harvesting system for arid climates.

The Nanovation Prize is designed to promote awareness of nano-scale science amongst design students. The top judged entry receives a cash award as well as help to further develop their invention toward commercialization. Laila Aukee, this year’s winner, envisioned a new coating for crash test dummies that uses microencapsulation technology to show bodily injury more effectively than existing technologies. An Honorable Mention went to Colette Bazirgan, who developed a water harvesting system patterned with hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions to draw moisture from the air in arid climates, and Megan Yuen received a Citation for firefighting gear tailored to be lighter and easier to move in while providing greater heat and impact protection.

Nanotechnology In Medical Application

One area of nanotechnology application that holds the promise of providing great benefits for society in the future is in the realm of medicine. Nanotechnology is already being used as the basis for new, more effective drug delivery systems and is in early stage development as scaffolding in nerve regeneration research. Moreover, the National Cancer Institute has created the Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer in the hope that investments in this branch of nanomedicine could lead to breakthroughs in terms of detecting, diagnosing, and treating various forms of cancer.

Nanotechnology is also making possible the stimulation of the body’s own mechanisms to successfully repair diseased or damaged tissues, replacing the need for transplants and artificial organs. In the foreseeable future, nanotechnology as applied to medicine, will lead to advancement in remote monitoring and care, where a patient may be treated at home - a less expensive option, and one that is more conducive to a successful medical outcome than treatment in a surgery or hospital.

Apply Nanotechnology To Prostate Cancer Therapy

A team of scientists from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has received one of 10 creativity awards from the Prostate Cancer Foundation for advanced prostate cancer research. The one-year awards are designed to support innovative ideas that have the potential to achieve breakthroughs for the detection and treatment of prostate cancer.

Their work involves nanoscale fabrication technology that may provide new modeling capabilities and therapies to arrest lethal prostate cancer progression.

The Lineberger team members include Shelton Earp, M.D., professor of medicine and pharmacology and center director; Joseph DeSimone, Ph.D., Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences; and Young Whang, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in the UNC School of Medicine.

Earp, Whang and colleagues discovered that a signaling molecule named Ack1 can cause low-grade, tumorigenic prostate cancer cells to become androgen-independent, the state that results in advanced human prostate cancer. Other UNC scientists, led by DeSimone, have developed a nanoparticle drug delivery technology.

The scientists plan to model widely spread prostate cancer using Ack1-driven prostate cancer cells to test whether DeSimone’s nanoparticles can be targeted to the cancer, both to detect its location and to carry effective treatment that is not toxic to the rest of the body.