Nanotechnology Now Used In Nearly 500 Everyday Products

The number of consumer products using nanotechnology has more than doubled, from 212 to 475, in the 14 months since the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies launched the world’s first online inventory of manufacturer-identified nanotech goods in March 2006. Clothing and cosmetics top the inventory at 77 and 75 products, respectively. A list of nanotechnology products that also includes bedding, jewelry, sporting goods, nutritional and personal care items is available free at http://www.nanotechproject.org/consumerproducts.

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A sample of nanotechnology enabled sunscreens. (Credit: Alex Parlini - Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies)

Nanotechnology Consumer Products Inventory Highlights:

• The food and beverages category, including containers and dietary supplements, doubled to 61 products since last year.
• Nanoscale silver is the most cited nanomaterial used. It is found in 95 products or 20 percent of the inventory. Carbon, including carbon nanotubes and fullerenes, is the second highest nanoscale material cited.
• Merchandise from 20 countries is now represented. The United States leads internationally with 52 percent or 247 consumer products that contain nanotechnology. East Asia now boasts 123 products, a 58 percent increase over last year.
• New products in the inventory include the Corsa Nanotech Ice Axe which uses an innovative Sandvik Nanoflex® steel alloy that’s 20 percent lighter than normal steel and up to 60 percent stronger. There’s also MaatShop™ Crystal Clear Nano Silver—a clear liquid dietary supplement which peddles protection against colds, flu and hundreds of diseases, even anthrax.

While polls show most Americans know little or nothing about nanotechnology, in 2005 nanotechnology was incorporated into more than $30 billion in manufactured goods. By 2014, Lux Research estimates $2.6 trillion in manufactured goods will incorporate nanotechnology—or about 15 percent of total global output.

“The use of nanotechnology in consumer products and industrial applications is growing rapidly, with the products listed in the inventory showing just the tip of the iceberg,” said Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies science advisor Andrew Maynard. “How consumers respond to these early products—in food, electronics, health care, clothing and cars—will be a litmus test for broader market acceptance of nanotechnologies in the future.”

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Adapted from materials provided by Project On Emerging Nanotechnology.

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Could Nanotechnology Make An Average Donut Into Health Food?

ScienceDaily (Feb. 14, 2009) — European food companies already use nanotechnology in consumer products, but few volunteer the information to consumers, said Dutch food scientist Frans Kampers.

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Could nanotechnology make donuts into health food? The promise of nanotechnology is that it could allow for re-engineering of ingredients to bring healthy nutrients more efficiently to the body while allowing less-desirable components to pass through, according to a Dutch scientist. (Credit: iStockphoto/Dean Turner)

He is among the panelists gathered in Chicago for the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting symposium "From Donuts to Drugs: Nano-Biotechnology Evolution or Revolution."

Kampers from Wageningen University and Research Center in the Netherlands will take a look at food science issues in his presentation, "What Nanotechnology Can Do for Your Average Donut."

"All of us as scientists are being impacted by nano-bioscience and there are many issues. The interdisciplinary aspect is just one of them," said Rod Hill, a University of Idaho professor and symposium organizer.

The panel includes two graduate students, Jessica Koehne of the University of California, Davis, and Kristina Kriegel of the University of Massachusetts, are working on projects combining, nanotechnology with biology and chemistry.

"On the food side there is greater public resistance to nanomaterials and nanotechnology in food whereas on the biomedical side there is greater public acceptance or less recalcitrance," Hill added.

His focus on applications, products and processes, and on sensors useful for in food safety and food quality monitoring and in packaging, reflects the wide range of nanotechnology's use in the food industry, Kampers said.

"The problem I always face is that people do not understand what we are doing with nanotechnology and food," Kampers said. "Everyone has this vision of nanotechnology being nanoparticles and nanoparticles being risky, so they are very afraid that nanoparticles in food will have an adverse effect on health."

The promise of nanotechnology, the Dutch scientist said, is that it could allow re-engineering ingredients to bring healthy nutrients more efficiently to the body while allowing less-desirable components to pass on through.

European food scientists use nanotechnology to create structures in foods that can deliver nutrients to specific locations in the body for the most beneficial effects, Kampers said.

"We are basically creating nanostructures in food that are designed to fall apart in your body because of digestion so in the end there will not be nanoparticles," Kampers said.

He said there are some researchers studying applications of persistent nanoparticles in food and packaging that he believes could present risks. Use of metal, usually silver, nanoparticles in packaging to slow spoilage could move from the packaging material into the food itself.

"The persistent metal or metal oxide nanoparticles could move into the bloodstream, and research has shown they can migrate into cells or in some cases even into the nucleus of cells," Kampers said.

"These are the more controversial applications of nanotechnology," Kampers added. "More research is necessary to understand the kinetics and dynamics of these particles before large-scale applications in food are developed. At the moment, these types of nanoparticles are rarely used in food products."

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Adapted from materials provided by University of Idaho, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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