NER: Identifying and Regulating Environmental Impacts of Nanomaterials

该提案是响应纳米科学与工程倡议，NSF 04-043，类别NER而收到的。 这项研究属于福尔斯的领域，“社会和教育的影响，在纳米尺度上的进展。“关于确定纳米材料造成的环境影响和风险的早期研究对于将利益攸关方的注意力集中在真实的风险与未经科学数据证实的风险上至关重要。此前，由于缺乏毒理学数据，对纳米材料进行正式环境风险评估的尝试受阻，从而极大地阻碍了环境风险认知领域及其与公众的沟通。本文提出了一种广泛的跨学科方法，通过在纳米材料的生命周期（从合成到制造、应用和释放到环境中以及融入生物体）内制定相关方案，确定纳米材料造成的环境影响和风险。这种方法以与工程纳米颗粒的基础科学，技术和毒性互补的方式使用监管结构的背景，以开发纳米颗粒释放和与环境相互作用的场景。一系列的标准方法，如生命周期方法，层次全息模型和统计方法将被应用于识别和可能的排名潜在的风险，可能会在专门的环境中的人为纳米颗粒的运输的特点。这些方案将侧重于目前以每月几吨的能力制造的纳米材料，如内嵌金属富勒烯（Luna Nanomaterials，VA）;碳纳米管（Carbon Nanotechnologies）;和二氧化钛纳米颗粒（杜邦）。这些方案将包括评估当前的监管结构将如何处理这些紧急风险，以及如何改进这一过程。 本文的研究具有重要的意义和新颖性，原因如下：它采用情景开发的方法来量化风险。在纳米技术等早期领域，它提出了各种各样的可能的情况下，该方法是新颖的，有必要推动该领域的发展，特别是因为这种方法是一致的，只有有限的毒理学数据的可用性。 包括监管结构的风险识别和排名方法，作为一个背景下，以提高或消除纳米技术所带来的风险，是新颖的和至关重要的纳米技术的广泛接受。 在风险识别方法中将地方和全球系统一级的影响结合起来，是一种必要和大胆的做法。 最后，该方法包括在风险识别情景中的环境效益。 在其更广泛的影响中，使影响公众（环境和消费者团体），监管机构（EPA，FDA，NIOSH）和企业的科学知情的贸易区成为拟议工作的中心目标。教育和毒性案例研究，可以促进监管和公众对纳米技术的看法是至关重要的技术进步这一领域。 一名研究生和一名本科生主要参与该项目。

This proposal was received in response to Nanoscale Science and Engineering initiative, NSF 04-043, category NER. This research falls under the area of, "Societal and Educational Implications of Advances on the Nanoscale." Early studies on identifying environmental impacts and risks posed by nanomaterials are vital to focus the attention of stakeholders on real risks versus those unsubstantiated by scientific data. Prior attempts at formal environmental risk assessment on nanomaterials have been stymied by a paucity of toxicological data, thereby greatly hampering the field of environmental risk perception and its communication to the general public. A broad interdisciplinary approach is proposed here to identify environmental impacts and risks posed by nanomaterials through development of pertinent scenarios within their life cycle, from synthesis to manufacturing, application, and release into the environment and incorporation into an organism. This approach uses the context of the regulatory structure in a complementary manner with the fundamental science, technology and toxicity of engineered nanoparticles to develop scenarios for nanoparticle release and interaction with the environment. An array of standard methodologies such as life cycle approaches, hierarchical holographic models, and statistical methods will be applied to identify and possibly rank potential risks that may characterize the transport of anthropogenic nanoparticles within specialized environments. The scenarios will focus on nanomaterials currently manufactured in several tonnages per month capacities, such as endohedral metallo-fullerenes (Luna Nanomaterials, VA); carbon nanotubes (Carbon Nanotechnologies); and titania nanoparticles (Dupont). These scenarios will include assessment of how the current regulatory structure would deal with these emergent risks, and how that process might be improved. The proposed research is particularly significant and novel due to the following reasons: It uses the methodology of scenario development to quantify risk. In an early-stage field such as nanotechnology, which presents a wide variety of possible scenarios, the approach is novel and necessary to move the field ahead, especially since this approach is consistent with the availability of only limited toxicological data. Including the regulatory structure in the risk identification and ranking methodology, as a context to elevate or eliminate risks posed by nanotechnology, is novel and vital for widespread acceptance of nanotechnology. Combining local and global system-level impacts within the risk identification methodology is a necessary and bold approach. Finally, the approach includes environmental benefits within scenarios for the risk identification. Among its broader impacts, enabling scientifically informed trading zones that impact the general public (environmental and consumer groups), regulators (EPA, FDA, NIOSH), and businesses is a central objective of the proposed work. Educational and toxicity case studies that can advance regulation and public perception of nanotechnology are vital for technological advancement of this field. A graduate and an undergraduate student are centrally involved in the project.