Rice studies the big picture on tiny nanoparticles - Center assesses risks of technology while capitalizing on its potential

Vicki Colvin very nearly realized one of her greatest fears earlier this year when six Germans were hospitalized with breathing problems.

All had used a household product called Magic Nano. Did tiny "nanoparticles" in the aerosol spray clog their lungs and make them sick?

If true, Magic Nano would have represented a worst-case scenario for researchers studying the rapidly emerging science of nanotechnology, the designing of ultra-tiny particles that can improve the performance of existing products. Because these particles are so small, however, some scientists like Colvin worry they could infiltrate human cells and cause unintended harm, or accumulate in streams and lakes.

Magic Nano turned out to be a false alarm: although marketed under the rubric of nanotechnology -- consider the iPod Nano and the H3 "Nano Hummer" -- the product contained no nanoparticles.

But the false alarm wasn't exposed for several days, and a media frenzy caused much angst among scientists who fear a disaster could stunt development of the promising field of nanoscience.

"It was a great reminder for an emerging industry that the perception of risk is as important as the actual risk," said Colvin, director of Rice University's Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology.

Growing scrutiny

Colvin's center probably does more research to assess the environmental and health risks of nanotechnology than any other in the world, work that seeks to assure a safe introduction of nanotechnology into society. Last week, the National Science Foundation renewed the center's funding through 2011, providing a total of $12 million over five years.

In addition to identifying the potential environmental perils of nanotechnology, the center receives funds to investigate medical applications. And while there is promise in the biological area, the center's environmental work appears to be garnering more scrutiny.

That's because nanotechnology has gone from a lab-bench wonder to commercial reality in the five years since the Rice center was founded. Nanoparticles of one kind or another can be found in hundreds of products, from sunscreen to aluminum baseball bats.

Basic questions

With the almost limitless potential of nanotechnology, scientists and business promoters say today's products are just the first wave. The U.S. government believes the nano-industry will be worth $1 trillion by 2015.

At the same time, the rising number of consumer products and the Magic Nano incident have helped bump nanotechnology onto the agenda of some environmental groups.

In May, the group Friends of the Earth called for a moratorium on further sales of personal care products containing engineered nanomaterials, and the withdrawal of such products currently on the market, until the completion of independent, peer-reviewed safety studies.

The group joined with Greenpeace and other environmental organizations that month to petition the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin regulating these products.

"The public awareness of nanotechnology is definitely growing," said Andrew Maynard, science adviser for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, a collaboration between the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Pew Charitable Trusts. "But there's no master plan to determine whether it's entirely safe. The research is scattered."

Lessons of the past

In a report released last July, Maynard argued that the federal government must spend $100 million over the next two years to answer a few basic questions about nanotechnology: Are the nanomaterials in currently available products safe, and are there any occupational hazards where such products are being manufactured?

The development of such products has far outstripped safety research, he said, and nanomaterials remain largely unregulated.

According to Maynard, the federal government spent $1 billion on nanotechology research and development in 2005, but only about $11 million was spent studying potential environmental and health consequences.

Rice's center was funded in 2001 in part because it had the high-minded goal of preventing an environmental crisis.

"It's a prudent strategy from society's point of view," said Bruce Rittmann, director of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology at Arizona State University. "You would hope that we have learned to do this kind of thing in advance after some bad experiences in the past."

'A wonderful tool'

In its first five years, the Rice center has helped inform lawmakers and industry about the environmental perils of nanotechnology, and established a framework for determining whether nanoparticles are toxic.

They and others have proved there's reason for concern: Some studies have found that a tiny ball of carbon atoms, known as a buckyball, can be toxic to animals under certain circumstances. More study is needed.

Yet, the Rice research has not just focused on possible harms. Some of the center's scientists are searching for ways in which nanotechnology can improve the environment.

Within five years, Pedro Alvarez, chairman of Rice's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, plans to deliver a low-cost water-treatment system. The treatment system, which may be deployed in Brownsville, would target pollutants such as arsenic.

"Nanotechnology is going to be a wonderful tool to enable environmental sustainability," Alvarez said. "But we must also work to ensure it does not become a liability."