November 2011

Researchers at Marshall University's Center for Diagnostic Nanosystems have demonstrated that nanoparticles of cerium oxide (CeO2), a common diesel fuel additive used to increase fuel economy, can travel to the lungs and from the lungs to the liver, potentially causing liver damage.

The data in the study by Dr. Eric R. Blough and his colleagues indicate there is a dose-dependent increase in the concentration of cerium in the liver of animals that had been exposed to the nanoparticles.  These increases in cerium were associated with elevations of liver enzymes in the blood and histological evidence consistent with liver damage.  The research was published in the October 13, 2011, issue of the peer-reviewed research journal International Journal of Nanomedicine.

SAFENANO, Europe's Centre of Excellence on Nanotechnology Hazard and Risk, along with the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), have announced the official launch of the European Research project MARINA (MAnaging RIsks of NAnoparticles).

While there are standard procedures for product life cycle analysis, exposure, hazard, and risk assessment for traditional chemicals, it is not yet clear how these procedures need to be modified to address all the novel properties of nanomaterials. There is still an acute need to develop specific reference methods for all the main steps in managing the potential risk of ENM. The aim of MARINA is to develop such methods.

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI)'s latest environmental, health, and safety research strategy, published in October 2011, highlights what has become a risk assessment focus within the world of nano safety: The need to look at the entire impact of an application or product, from the workers who manufacture it to how the consumer uses it to the way it’s disposed of.