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Nanotechnology-Related Environmental, Health, and Safety (nanoEHS) Research at NIST
Accurate methods to measure features of a fast-growing assortment of engineered nanoscale materials and to characterize the sometimes-exceptional properties of these materials are fundamental to realizing the tremendous opportunities of nanotechnology, while avoiding potential risks to health and the environment.
In its second assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology called on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to lead the development of materials and analytical standards for nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety research. “Such standards,” the council said, “are critical to characterizing and monitoring effects of nanomaterials.”1
As the nation’s measurement institute, NIST is developing characterization methods and measurement standards necessary to help ensure that nanotechnology products are safe for people and the environment. In its FY 2009 budget request, NIST has asked for an additional $12 million to substantially expand its research directed toward building national and international capabilities for understanding, predicting, and managing potential risks of engineered nanoscale materials. These extra resources will help NIST deliver the measurement and analytical tools required to answer questions about possible environmental, health, and safety (EHS) risks. This leadership role in the areas of instrumentation, metrology, and analytical methods is assigned to NIST under the National Nanotechnology Initiative’s Strategy for Nanotechnology-Related Environmental, Health, and Safety Research.
NIST’s measurement research and services are crosscutting, often yielding results and new capabilities that enhance many different nanotechnology pursuits. For example, accurate measurements are necessary to ensure the quality of data and, ultimately, the usefulness of the results generated by different researchers addressing related aspects of the same challenge. Accurate measurements also can eliminate uncertainties that may complicate regulatory and policy decisions.
Examples of Current Efforts
NIST researchers are focusing on three important tasks, each providing tools necessary to answer crucial EHS-related questions:
Developing standards, including reference materials, and working with standards development organizations on documentary standards;,
Characterizing nanomaterials, including the development of analytical methods to identify and measure the critical parameters related to nanomaterials in biological systems, the environment, and the workplace; and
Developing measurement methods to determine the impact of nanomaterials on people and the environment, including evaluating the scope and suitability of technologies to detect biological effects of exposure to nanomaterials and the validation of toxicological tests.
Brief summaries of several recent accomplishments follow. Since early 2007, NIST has:
Issued its first reference standards for nanoscale particles—gold spheres nominally 10, 30 and 60 nanometers in diameter—which NIST developed for the biomedical research community with the National Cancer Institute’s Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory. (The new NIST reference materials are three of the five nanoparticle samples being used in an ASTM International-sponsored interlaboratory study, a type of performance-benchmarking intended to improve the consistency and quality of results across organizations. The comparative study began in January 2008.)
Published and made freely available a detailed “how to” guide for making essential measurements on samples of single-walled carbon nanotubes, which was offered as the starting point for an international standard on “best practices” for characterizing one of the most promising candidates among the new generation of engineered nanoscale materials. A collaborative effort that includes the United States, China, Japan, and Korea is now under way under the International Organization for Standardization.
Reported that the lengths of carbon nanotubes affect whether they are absorbed into cells.
Described a method for determining the purity of batches of nanotubes, which is necessary, for example, when trying to determine whether nanotubes or contaminants are responsible for biological or physical properties of research interest.
Reported that, in a simplified invertebrate food chain, engineered nanomaterials can be transferred from single celled organisms to higher multicelled ones, but that the amount transferred was relatively low and there was no evidence of the nanomaterials concentrating in the higher level organisms.
Launched a collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to assess whether the standard method for testing biological responses to microparticles (a test-tube study using mouse cells) is useful for evaluating cellular responses to nanoscale particles.
Contributions to Standards Efforts
NIST provides measurement expertise and other technical contributions in support of efforts to develop standards that enable development and commercialization of nanotechnology products that do not jeopardize human health or the environment. NIST representatives are participating in the following standards organizations:
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee 113 (TC 113)—Nanotechnology standardization for electrical and electronic products and systems,
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Working Party for Manufactured Nanomaterials, and
National Nanotechnology Initiative’s Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications Working Group under the National Science and Technology Council’s Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology Subcommittee.
In addition, NIST works in partnership with other national measurement institutes in other countries. In late 2007, NIST signed an agreement with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, which focuses in part on advancing the development and availability of international measurement standards for EHS of engineered nanoscale materials.
NIST regularly organizes and participates in workshops that convene experts and representatives of industry and other stakeholders to identify important EHS-related issues, establish goals, and set priorities. Recent workshops include:
Interagency Working Group on Manufacturing Research and Development Workshop on Instrumentation, Metrology, and Standards for Nanomanufacturing;
Workshop on Material Standards for EHS for Engineered Nanoscale Materials to identify standard materials needed to address toxicology and risks of engineered nanoscale materials;
Workshop with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on nanotube measurements to focus on issues of nanotube quality and characterization;
Second Tri-National Workshop on Standards for Nanotechnology with National Measurement Institutes of Canada and Mexico to cover the state of nanotechnology in all three North American nations and the limits of current technology and standards—both documentary and physical;
International Workshop on Documentary Standards for Measurement and Characterization in Nanotechnologies; and
Workshop on Cross-Industry Issues in Nanomanufacturing, with EHS as a cross-cutting issue for industry.
NIST continues to work with industry, university, and government representatives in identifying measurement-related obstacles to resolving questions about potential risks posed by engineered nanoscale materials. In June 2008, NIST, the American Ceramic Society, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences hosted a workshop on Environmental, Health and Safety Issues in Nanomaterials. Measurement needs identified at the event will be incorporated into NIST’s more detailed ongoing assessment of the area, carried out under the leadership of its United States Measurement System (USMS) program.
Also as part of this assessment, the USMS program is coordinating a special issue of the Journal of Nanomaterials on metrology for nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety.
For further information about NIST efforts in nanoEHS contact: Dianne Poster, dianne.poster@nist.gov, (301) 975-8941.
1President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, The National Nanotechnology Initiative: Second Assessment and Recommendations of the National Nanotechnology Advisory Panel, April 2008. (Copy available as a PDF at: http://www.ostp.gov/galleries/PCAST/PCAST_NNAP_NNI_Assessment_2008.pdf)