Dag Falck Organic Program Manager Nature’s Path Food [email protected] NANO TECHNOLOGY and...

Dag FalckOrganic Program Manager

Nature’s Path [email protected]

NANO TECHNOLOGYNANO TECHNOLOGYand and

ORGANIC ORGANIC

NANO RINGS

Who made this?

Human or The Divine?

electron gas (2DEG)

Dr Andreas Fuhrer Nanophysics Group of Prof. Ensslin at ETH Zürich Zürich

(Switzerland)

What is nano technology?What is so exciting?

What products use it?Definition?

What does it look like?Who’s driving nano technology?

What is so exciting?What are the concerns?

Nano and health-people/planetNano regulation

Nano threats to OrganicOptions for organic.Personal options.

What is nano technology?

A nanometer = one billionth of a meter. Atoms are generally one-tenth to one-sixth of a nanometer

in diameter. A nanofiber might have a diameter of 1 or 2 nanometers

and a length of several hundred thousand nanometers. DNA has a diameter of about 2.5 nanometers. Human hair averages 20,000 – 80,000 nanometers in

diameter. (One micron or micrometer = 1000 nanometers).

Viruses tend to be about 100 nanometers in diameter. Bacteria are generally 1,000 to 10,000 nm. in diameter. E-coli is 1500 nm.

What is nano technology?

lRhinovirus 25 nm 10 nm particle 2 nm Nano-Silver particle

Our red blood cells, are about 5000 nanometers wide. Other body cells are 10,000 to 20,000 nm in diameter. Thus nano-scale particles or devices will fit inside bacteria as well as the cells of multi-celled organisms including plants and animals. One of the big issues is what impact they might have if they enter the cells of living organisms.

What is so exciting?

Reactivity • When you reduce the size of the particles, the

ratio of molecules on the outside of the particle as compared with those on the inside is greatly increased.

• The enormous surface to volume ratio greatly increases reactivity and changes mechanical, electrical and optical properties.

• Nanomedicine often involves engineering entities for molecular recognition to serve some health purpose.

Rows of thymine dimers.

What is so exciting?Properties that may emerge only at the nano-scale level include:

• Very attractive surface charge • Very repulsive surface charge • Agglomeration, reduced dispersion or solubility • Bonding with other substances some of which may be toxics in

water, air, or soil.• Persistence; many nano-scale materials are not biodegradable even

when their macroscale variants are.• Bio-accumulation.• Supermagnetism.• Superconductivity. • New optical properties. • High mobility - inhalation, dermal, ingestion, ability to cross cell

walls, blood-brain barrier, placental-barrier, enter blood vessels from the lungs, etc.

• Molecular recognition (binding or disruption) in mitochondria, DNA, hormonal systems etc.

What products use nano technology?

580 products such as :Bandages and wound dressings and condoms, bed sheets and

clothing made of nanotex fabrics, air fresheners, wet wipes, detergents, soaps, disinfectant sprays, shampoo, skin creams and lotions, cosmetics, fullerene eye creams and night creams, suntan lotions and mosquito repellent; anti-bacterial silverware, food containers, baby bottles, a baby bottle brush, socks, toothpaste, toothbrushes and pet products; a chocolate slim shake, a nanotea, canola oil, beverages and food additives; golf clubs, bowling balls, tennis rackets, baseball bats, skis, snowboards and hockey sticks; paints and sealants; lens, window, and windshield cleaners; anti-bacterial refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, air conditioners and mobile phones; nanowax sprays, cleaning products, hearing aids, a fabric softener, a home pregnancy test, the IPod Nano, anti-aging nutritional supplements, vitamin tablets & vitamin sprays, lithium-ion batteries, automotive engine oil, tires, rubber gloves, plastic wrap,computer memory and processors, self-cleaning glass, teddy bears.

http://www.nanotechproject.org/index.php?id=44&action=view





PEN

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies

An inventory of nanotechnology-based consumer products currently on the market. http://www.nanotechproject.org/inventories/consumer/

http://www.nanotechproject.org/inventories/consumer/

Definition?

….. study and manipulation of materials at the nano-scale

Definition: Methods

• One is top-down such as grinding a material into an ultrafine powder in which at least one diameter of the material is less than 100 nanometers wide

• In the "bottom-up" approach, materials and devices are built from molecular components which assemble themselves chemically by principles of molecular recognition.

What does it look like?

Buckyball, Fullerene family

Carbon structureNanocar with “fullerene wheels”

Surface of copper

What is it? US/FDA:

While many definitions for nanotechnology exist, the National Nanotechnology Initiative calls it "nanotechnology" only if it involves all of the following:

1. Research and technology development at the atomic, molecular

or macromolecular levels, in the length scale of approximately 1 - 100 nanometer range.

2. Creating and using structures, devices and systems that have novel properties and functions because of their small and/or intermediate size.

3. Ability to control or manipulate on the atomic scale.

• Over the past five years, the U.S. has allocated roughly $773 million to nanomedicine research.

• EU approximately 235 million Euros.• Canada about $32 million with another $15

million to be spent in 2006-2007.

• The expectation is that this investment will deliver not only major medical breakthroughs in detection, diagnosis and treatment but also mega profits.

Who’s driving nano technology?


Nanotechnology in the Agrifood Industry:

Reported worldwide nanotechnology food market will be $20.4 billion by 2010 and five out of ten of the world’s largest food and beverage companies are investing in nanotechnology research and development.

The big players include Kraft, Unilever, Nestle, Cargill, Heinz, General Mills, Pepsico, and Campbell’s Soup.

Nano food packaging

The Alberta government's commitment of $130 million over five years, $40 million of which is provided by the Alberta Ingenuity Fund, will include with investments such as:

$8 million to establish a nano-packaging/nano product development center.


With the use of nanoparticles, bottles and packaging can be made lighter and stronger, with better thermal performance and less gas absorption. These properties can extend the shelf life of products, as well as lower the transportation costs involved in shipping food.

With a different nanostructure, the gas and water vapor permeability of plastics can be engineered to preserve fruit, vegetables, beverages, wine and other food.


Kodak, best known for producing camera film, is using nanotech to develop antimicrobial packaging for food products that will be commercially available in 2005. Kodak is also developing other ‘active packaging,’ which absorbs oxygen, thereby keeping food fresh.


Researchers in the Netherlands develop intelligent packaging that will release a preservative if the food within begins to spoil. This “release on command” preservative packaging is operated by means of a bioswitch developed through nanotechnology.

Some analysts predict nano food packaging could become a $30 billion industry.


Industrialization of farm-use nano materials and fertilizers develops well.

The Nano Fertilizer Key Technology has applied to the State Development and Reform Commission for the Demonstrative Program, “Industrialization of Functional Amortizing/Controlling Material for Plant Nutrition”. After approval, the program received 10 million yuan funding, which has been allocated to the Tianjin Planning Commission. At the same time, the northern industrialization demonstration base of the “Nano Material Cementation Enveloping Amortizing/Control Releasing Fertilizer” jointly established with Tianjin Kanglong Agricultural and Biological Produce Ltd has established


Nanomedicine

What if doctors could search out and destroy the very first cancer cells that would otherwise have caused a tumor to develop in the body?

What if a broken part of a cell could be removed and replaced with a miniature biological machine?

What if pumps the size of molecules could be implanted to deliver life-saving medicines precisely when and where they are needed?

These scenarios may sound unbelievable, but they are the long-term goals of the NIH Roadmap's Nanomedicine initiative that we anticipate will yield medical benefits as early as 10 years from now. National Institutes of Health


Four respirocytes tumble through space at various orientations. Pumping station geometry and polar barcodes are clearly visible.

In this scene, respirocytes — artificial red cells — have just been injected into the bloodstream of a smoke inhalation victim who is suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Here, the respirocytes are passing through an arterial branch on their way to the capillary bed, where they will release their store of oxygen in the patient's tissues and help keep the victim alive.


Control

….. It looks at the organelles and molecules found in living cells as nano-scale machines and motors. The engineering perspective transforms the dance of life into a manufacturing process. It seeks to harness, manipulate, and control these processes.

Red blood cells lie in respose on a glass plate, with respirocytes scattered randomly about nearby. One nanorobot rests in the central cleft of a red cell. The image is a simulated view of a blood sample that might be taken from some future trauma patient who has received approximately seven therapeutic respirocyte doses at an accident scene. Each single respirocyte in the scene can control nearly the same amount of available oxygen as all eight red cells present in the scene, combined.


Nanoparticles and Nanostructures

There are two ways to produce nano-sized materials. One is top-down such as grinding a material into an ultrafine powder in which at least one diameter of the material is less than 100 nanometers wide.

In top-down processes, the particles are not uniform in size, but depending on the material, they take on different qualities compared with their normal bulk state. They are in a supramolecular state. They are neither single molecules nor the normal much larger aggregates of molecules of the material in its bulk form.


Nanoparticles and Nanostructures

Nano-scale particles have different characteristics from macro-scale particles of the same material. They may be stronger or more flexible, harder or softer, more heat resistant or water soluble or able to conduct electricity. They may become catalysts one hundred times more reactive than in macro-scale bulk state. Aluminum, for e.g., becomes flammable at room temperature while gold

becomes a liquid and turns red.

Polyelectrolytes molecules network absorbed on hydrohpobic surface.

Used to create conductive polymers and metals for electronics


Nano-scale materials commonly used, sometimes in combination, include:

• Metals: gold, titanium, iron, copper, aluminum, silver • Metal oxides: titanium dioxide, iron oxide, zinc oxide,

aluminum oxide • Polymers, i.e., chains of similar or identical molecules

typically used in constructing nanocomposites • Ceramics [nanocrystals, clays] talc, mica, asbestos,

vermiculite • Carbon: fullerenes, nanotubes, nanofibres, nanowires • Silicon • Modified biomolecules such as proteins, enzymes, DNA

and RNA

What are the concerns with nano technology?

Testing:• The companies producing these

products claim they have been tested but the data is confidential business information.

• Carbon fullerenes (buckyballs) are also being used in some hand and face creams despite the fact that research has shown that fullerenes in water are able to enter fish through their gills and to cause brain damage.

Nano and health-people/planet

When considering many of these consumer products, it is important to consider where the waste products end up when they are washed off in the shower or dumped in the garbage.

Nanomaterials can enter the blood stream once they have been inhaled, ingested, or taken in through the skin.


Once they are in the bloodstream, nanoparticles can travel to tissues around and in major organs including the spleen, liver, kidneys, heart, bone marrow, nervous system and brain.

We still do not know how long they might remain there or what sort of damage they might cause.

There is also the issue of whether the immune system might be overloaded trying to deal with such foreign material.

If the particles are small enough, they appear to be able to elude macrophages and other immune system defenses and enter cells where they may latch onto or interfere with the workings of various organelles.

Friends of the Earth in Australia and the U.S. collaborated in 2006 to produce an excellent 32-page report entitled Nanomaterials in Sunscreens and Cosmetics:

Small Ingredients, Big Risks available on the internet.

Important scientific studies that reveal that many types of nanoparticles used in cosmetics and sunscreens are “toxic to human tissues and cell cultures resulting in oxidative stress, inflammatory cytokine production, DNA mutation and even cell death.”

Nanoparticles of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, used in many cosmetics and sunscreens produce free radicals and damage DNA when exposed to UV light.

20 nm particles of titanium dioxide have been shown to be able to completely destroy supercoiled DNA even in low concentrations without the presence of UV light. And yet, sunscreens and cosmetics are virtually unregulated.



Mitochondrial DNA are susceptible to damage by some nanoparticles. The science of nanotoxicology is still in its infancy and utterly inadequately funded.

This has been heavily criticized by advisory scientific bodies such as the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineers in the U.K., the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the U.S.

Even the industry is asking for more testing and funding for toxicology research.


Without regulations and reassurances to consumers and investors that rigorous testing and risk assessments have been conducted, corporations fear that one instance of damage to health or the environment would be enough to cause a backlash against all things nano.

Even one of the scientists who shared the Nobel Prize for discovering fullerenes was quoted last year as saying that he himself would avoid using any cosmetic containing them until they had been fully tested to verify it was safe.

When a scientist at an international conference asked 200 of her colleagues at a forum if they themselves would feel comfortable using a face cream containing fullerenes, less than ten raised their hands.

Coating materials with hardness comparable to, or higher than, diamond.

This image shows a 23.6 nm x 20.4 nm area of a (NaCl structure) This image suggests that the structure of the internal SiNx/TiN interfaces in nc-SiNx/TiN may be much more complicated than previously thought.


In its December 5, 2006 issue, Scientific American ran an article entitled: “Danger? Nanotube-infested Waters Created in the Lab” which reported that studies of multi-walled nanotubes suspended in waters taken from the Suwannee River in Georgia revealed that organic matter enabled the nanoparticles to remain in suspension for a full month instead of clumping and settling as expected. This would greatly increase their capacity to act as a potentially dangerous contaminant affecting microorganisms, plant, and animal life in streams, rivers,

lakes, and the ocean.


Another area of concern is the potential of health hazards for workers either directly producing nanomaterials or working with nanomaterials in the fabrication of composites such as textiles, paints, cosmetics, plastic and rubber products, etc.

Research on the hazards of contracting black lung and silicosis from inhaling ultrafine particles of coal dust and silica, and of inhaling ultrafine fibers in asbestos mining have provided much relevant toxicological information for assessing the hazards of nanoparticles and nanofibers.

In fact, some of the earliest and most insistent arguments for more research into the hazards of nanomaterials have come from scientists who have studied these diseases of miners as well as the lung and coronary diseases associated with air pollution from the products of hydrocarbon combustion.

Conducting polymers are of great significance due to their interesting properties compared with other kind of microfabrication materials, which make them very useful for electronics-based applications.

The image reflects the growth of 2.5 um diameter polypyrrole rings

Regulation:

• Despite the growing evidence of reasons for concern about possible health and environmental hazards due to exposure to nanomaterials, no regulatory agency in the world yet regulates them even as they begin to appear in more and more consumer products.

(except the UK Soil Association Dec 16, 2008)

What are the concerns: Regulation

• Because FDA regulates products based on their statutory classification rather than the technology they employ, FDA’s regulatory consideration of an application involving a nanotechnology product may not occur until well after the initial development of that nanotechnology.

• Because FDA has limited regulatory authority over certain categories of products, the Agency may have limited authority over the use of nanotechnology related to those products. For example, there is no premarket approval of cosmetic products or their ingredients, with the exception of color additives.

What are the concerns: Regulation

Nano threats to Organic

• Contamination of soil/biology/water

• Contamination of product/packaging

• Detect-ability

• Do thresholds need to be developed?

• Cost of keeping out of organic

Nano/Organic, can it happen?

The Colloidal / Nano Silver example:

The secret to making silver useful was to create a solution whose molecules were so tiny that they would simply pass through the cells and not become lodged in the liver and other organs. To reach this goal, science has continually been attempting to make the particles in colloidal silver smaller and smaller.

A company, Advanced Nano Technologies, has found a way to decrease the size of the silver cluster to such a degree that the silver in the colloidal solution is at the atomic level (or that of very, very small molecules). In this form, the silver goes beyond merely being colloidal into the area of modern science known as nanotechnology.

Nano Silver is so small that it can even be absorbed directly through the skin — a method of delivery that holds incredible possibilities.

Nano/Organic, can it happen?

• Traditional Colloidal Silver is produced via a constant current reverse polarity process.

• Consists of both elemental and ionic particles providing the ultimate particle surface area.

• Particle size as small as 0.1 micron and 5 ppm -100 ppm concentrations.Nano Silver can have

2,000 parts per million and .001 micron

The USFDA has not evaluated, nor rendered approval for any statements or research cited herein, nor have they approved any representations or opinions concerning colloidal silver, colloidal gold or any other dietary supplement products. These products are not intended to diagnose, cure, prevent or treat any disease.

Nano/Natural, it is happening!

Ingredients in Parfait Visage®Exotic ingredients: Natural Cucumber Lotion Base, Whole Leaf Organic Aloe Vera, Organic Hemp Seed Oil, Vitamin E-(Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta Tocopherols and Tocotreinols), Organic Kukui Nut Oil, GH3, Iridodial, Micro-Colloidal Silver, Micro-Crystalline MSM, New Zealand 10+ Manuka Honey, Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, Organic Hungarian Blue Chamomile, Somalian Frankincense, Tunisian Neroli, Bulgarian Rose, French Lavender, Hungarian Carrot Seed, Indian Jasmine Sambac.

Options for organic

January 15, 2008

The Soil Association one of the world's pioneers of organic agriculture announced today that it is has banned human-made nanomaterials from the organic cosmetics, foods and textiles that it certifies.

Soil Association Nano Standard• Nanotechnology Nanotechnology refers to the production and application of material and devices at the

nano scale (0.1 nm to 100 nm). A nanometre (nm) is a billionth of a metre, approximately one 80,000th of the width of a human hair. Atoms and molecules are measured in nanometres.

Nanotechnology can be applied to food, agriculture, medicines (for both humans and animals), cosmetics, textiles and packaging as well as many other things.

Our standards ban products or ingredients produced using nanotechnology.

Nanoparticles can be produced naturally. For example, some nano sized wheat particles will be end up being produced during the milling process. This standard does not apply to established manufacturing processes that produce nanoparticles incidentally.

However, the standard does apply to engineered nanoparticles: it bans processes which specifically engineer particles to be nano sized. For example, the zinc and titanium particles at the nano scale are used in sunscreens because at this size they become transparent rather than white which is deemed to be more cosmetically acceptable.

Our concern with nanoparticles lies in the fact that the properties of materials at this size can differ significantly from those at larger scales. Nanoparticles are so small they can sometimes bypass the body’s natural protective boundaries such as skin. Is it safe to apply sunscreen with nanoparticles of titanium dioxide or zinc oxide? We don’t know. Industry and government are belatedly conducting safety tests that will take several years to reach firm conclusions. Therefore we’ve applied the precautionary principle and our standards now state that:

Licensees must not use ingredients containing manufactured nanoparticles, where: • the mean particle size is 200nm or smaller, and • the minimum particle size is 125nm or smaller

Personal options

ETC Group competition winners for Nano Warning Symbols

Dag Falck Organic Program Manager Nature’s Path Food [email protected] NANO TECHNOLOGY and...

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