Solution to Nanotechnology Pollution

Regulations

Regulations by the United States and other major contributors to nanotechnology pollution may be the only realistic solution as of right now. The debate is over whether these nano-materials should be specifically regulated like other products that are released to the public market are.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration and also the Health & Consumer Protection Directorate of the European Commission have begun to deal with the risks that go along with extensive nanotechnology use. As of today, there are no specific regulations concerning nanomaterials or products that contain such particles for labeling, handling, or producing. The Material Safety Data Sheet that is required for some materials is not different between macro or nano scales.

If nanotechnology is to develop as a further part of society, many argue that strict regulations are required to ensure both people and the environment’s health and security are protected. In addition, if regulations are concrete and clear, then communities can efficiently instill nanotechnology policies and materials into their local products, thereby increasing the positive effect nanotechnology has. Therefore, our government and major nanotech producers around the world must take the responsibility of tightly managing their nanotechnology to ensure its longevity and to safeguard society.

Nanotechnology: Solution to Water Pollution

Did you know?

884 million people do not have access to safe water supplies: about one in eight people in the world

3.6 million people die every year from water-related diseases

98% of water-related deaths happen in developing countries

84% of water-related deaths (reported) are children (0-14 years of age)

see http://www.scidev.net/global/water/feature/nanotechnology-for-clean-water-facts-and-figures.html for more information.

          The UN has now moved water treatment in the world to one of its top priorities through its Millennium Development Goals. The ultimate goal is to cut the number of people lacking safe water access around the world in half. Nanotechnology is a promising tool for this large world project and aspiration.

          Nanotechnology can be used to filter water of heavy metals and biological toxins because the nano-particles can be fine adjusted and engineered. Materials at nano-levels usually have different electrical properties than at their larger size: this fact can be utilized to employ nano materials in a wide variety of applications. For water pollution, nanotechnology could be used to efficiently remove bacteria, viruses, arsenic, mercury, pesticides, and salt from water around the world.

          Nanotechnology is a promising solution to water pollution because it is efficient in both use and production. Corporations can mass produce it with less environmental damage than from making any other mass produced filter for water. Also, nanomaterials are durable and in general, cost effective. Therefore, nanotechnology could be the one thing needed around the world to quench the thirst of millions.

Nanotechnology and Energy

What Nanotech is Capable of:

-Steam from sunlight: Sunlight, focused on nanoparticles can make steam with high efficiency. This has been labeled the “solar steam device” and is targeting developing countries where efficient electricity is needed for water disinfecting and other health procedures.

-High efficiency light bulbs: Nano-infused polymer matrix is being tested with new light bulbs: they make white light and their possible shapes are boundless. In addition, the bulbs are shatterproof and about twice as efficient as compact fluorescence light bulbs.

-Increasing output generated by windmills: An adhesive spread with carbon nanotubes is being used to produce better windmill blades. These blades are stronger, less heavy, and longer: therefore, each windmill can export larger amounts of energy.

-Producing electricity from waste heat: Developers are testing sheets of nanotubes making thermo units that would generate electricity if the sides of the units were different temperatures. These sheets could be wrapped around hot pipes, like the exhaust pipe in cars, to make electricity from the energy that normally leaves as wasted heat.

-Clothes making electricity: Scientists are developing piezoelectric nanofibers which are flexible enough to be woven into cloth. When you moved wearing these, they could turn your kinetic energy into electricity that could potentially charge your phone and iPod. (Crazy!)

-Causing the production of fuels from raw sources to be more efficient: Nanotech could be the next major solution to the shortage of fossil fuels through making low grade raw materials cost-effective for production. In addition, nanotechnology can increase the amount of miles cars get to the gallon, and make the production of normal raw material fossil fuels more efficient: this would be a plus to the environment because there would be less demand from nature for fuel products.

Nanotechnology Impact and Overview

Nanotoxicology is a study of potential health risks linked to nanomaterials. It is hard to pinpoint because every different nano material has a different health impact on our bodies. Overall however, nanotechnology is a legitimate issue because the nano-particles of nanotech can invade bodies and accumulate in organs and tissues. In addition, it is hard to regulate because the regulations would have to clarify a different set of regulations for each different nanomaterial: an unrealistic goal.

Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology has potential in many bio-sensory applications. Scientists and doctors are seeking to use Nanotechnology as a molecular tool and to gather empirical information. The desired product is to develop medicine and treatment procedures. Speculative theorizes hope that Nanotechnology will soon be able to revolutionize drug delivery procedures, cancer treatment procedures, and enhanced imaging and sensory-mapping. 

Molecular nanotechnology is a sub-level of nanotechnology that works to developing machines that could manipulate molecular arrangements of both health factors and abiotic factors. Similar to the grey goo end-world scenario, the green goo is the application that organisms will self replicate through nanotech methods and take over the world. On a more realistic note, the potential with molecular nanotech is boundless: soon, we'll be able to isolate specific malignant cells and destroy them. Cancer, HIV: in effect, any disease affecting our cells could be targeted and treated.

NEC and IBM: These are two major nanotech patent owners. They hold the legal right to the carbon nanotube; a promising technology that will soon have applications in electronics, construction, military, drug therapy and others. In 2003 alone there were over 800 nano-related innovative patents granted. Nanotechnology is a ripening study-focus field arising on the global stage right now.

Nanopollution in general is any and all waste made by nanomachines or during production of such devices. It is an issue because the nanomaterials can float rapidly through the air and developers still do not know if it can or will penetrate animal and plant cells. Some speculate that because these nanobits do not exist in nature that the environment as a whole will not know how to respond, inevitably suffering. In addition, even any attempts at disposal of such nanotech pieces could cause more environmental damage: it could be that the permanent damage has already been introduced into our ecosystems across Earth.

Buckminsterfullerene (Bucky Ball): An Advantage of Nanotechnology

            

            Buckminsterfullerene was made in 1985 by Harold Kroto, James Heath, Sean O'Brien, Robert Curl, and Richard Smalley--at Rice University, Houston Texas. The molecule, nicknamed Bucky Ball, looks like a soccer ball and is made of a cage of twenty hexagons and twelve pentagons with a carbon atom at each point in the polygon shape. Its formula is C_60.

              Bucky Balls are found in soot. It has also been found in both solid and gaseous forms in deep space. 

              The Bucky Ball is a class of molecule known as fullerenes. The discovery of Buckminsterfullerene led to the chemistry field studying fullerenes. In general, a fullerene is any molecule composed solely of carbon and makes a hollow sphere, tube, and other shapes.

              Application: Fullerenes in general have been experimented with to treat cancer and target radiation in people's cells. Bucky Balls have not been largely applied in the commercial scene--other than the toy that was marketed as neodymium magnetic superballs. In the medical field, Bucky Balls can be fitted and inserted with helium tracers that will travel through the body to track disease and the like. In addition, in the fight against the HIV virus, Buckminsterfullerene has been used to inhibit the virus before it can damage the body's cells. So far, to the small amount Bucky Balls have been applied, no health side-effect has been detected. 

NanoPollution: Even an Issue?

1.What is the future of nanotechnology?

2. Is nanotechnology really advancing us?

3. Is nanotechnology risky?

See Videos:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EiHTppZbWTo

The future of nanotechnology looks both promising and lucrative for impoverished nations and for widescale market producers. The nanotechnology of tomorrow’s tomorrow will open the door to medical breakthroughs and at the same time benefit and maintain our world’s ecosystems.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc0KLV8CW08

      Such great potential coming from Nanotechnology must be balance with realistic aims to safeguard these new innovations.

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpF8M3t39A8

            The essential question at hand is whether the use of nanotechnology is worth the risk and costs.

Possible Health Issues From Nanopollution

Reactive Oxygen Species (Free Radicals) and Similar Negatives of Nano-particles

                When nanoparticles get into our body’s cells, through inhalation or contact with our skin, they cause the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS’s), also known as free radicals. Free radicals and ROS’s are molecules or ions made by the incomplete reduction (by adding electrons) of oxygen. When these molecules circulate throughout the body, they can cause health issues such as inflammation, DNA and protein harm, and oxidative stress (stress on the body coming from failure to balance oxygen-intermediates and toxicity with normal healthy functions). Because of their large surface area, these nano-materials can attach to the outside of enzyme proteins and block them from functioning—causing catastrophic results for the body.

                In effect, the air humans and other organisms breathe is in danger of being filled with micro particles that can infiltrate our bodies. Normal defense mechanisms of the body are vulnerable to these micro assassins. Because these nano aggressors are so small, when inhaled they can pass through the defense barriers of our tissues and even make their ways to the brain. The potential risk need not be stated. Such causes of these air pollutants include car exhaust, nano technology production, use of Carbon-60 in designs and manufacturing, and finally from other manufacturing procedures including manganese oxide production from welding facilities.