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Surge in Food Nanotechnology Worries Consumers
August 04, 2008 06:56 AM
by
Josh Katz
As more foods produced by nanotechnology are making their way to the public, some consumers worry about the health implications of the largely unregulated industry.
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Companies say that so-called nanofoods could be more flavorful and healthier than regular food. There’s even indication that a juicy hamburger could taste the same minus the fat and cholesterol, and peanuts could one day provide an innocuous snack for those with peanut allergies, for example.
Nanotechnology alters the characteristics of materials by manipulating their atoms and molecules, which generally measure only about 1–100 nanometers. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, and a single human hair measures 100,000 nanometers wide.
Despite their promise, nanofoods may be the next target for “consumers already worried about genetically engineered or cloned food,” according to Reuters. As supermarkets continue to quietly stock more nanofoods, consumer advocates want manufacturers to label such products, which currently stem from an industry lacking government supervision.
Nanotechnology has already brought advances in medicine, weaponry, construction, and consumer products, including lightweight tennis rackets, bicycles, certain sunscreens, washing machines and containers for food. Recently, a study found that drug-infused nanoparticles halted the spread cancer in mice.
Former EPA official J. Clarence Davies released a report on July 23, 2008, urging the country to devote more money to researching the safety, and the practical applications, of nanotechnology.
Davies quoted David Rejeski of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, who advocates a U.S. investment of $150 million a year in such research by 2010, to benefit from an industry that will involve “15 percent of globally manufactured goods, worth $2.6 trillion, by 2014.”
Nanotechnology alters the characteristics of materials by manipulating their atoms and molecules, which generally measure only about 1–100 nanometers. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, and a single human hair measures 100,000 nanometers wide.
Despite their promise, nanofoods may be the next target for “consumers already worried about genetically engineered or cloned food,” according to Reuters. As supermarkets continue to quietly stock more nanofoods, consumer advocates want manufacturers to label such products, which currently stem from an industry lacking government supervision.
Nanotechnology has already brought advances in medicine, weaponry, construction, and consumer products, including lightweight tennis rackets, bicycles, certain sunscreens, washing machines and containers for food. Recently, a study found that drug-infused nanoparticles halted the spread cancer in mice.
Former EPA official J. Clarence Davies released a report on July 23, 2008, urging the country to devote more money to researching the safety, and the practical applications, of nanotechnology.
Davies quoted David Rejeski of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, who advocates a U.S. investment of $150 million a year in such research by 2010, to benefit from an industry that will involve “15 percent of globally manufactured goods, worth $2.6 trillion, by 2014.”
Headline Link: ‘Nano-foods: The next consumer scare?’
Consumer advocates say that nanofoods should be labeled as such. Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union, said, “Just because something is safe at the macro level, doesn’t mean it’s safe at the nano size,” adding, “All scientists agree that size matters.” Already on the market are such foods as “canola oil from Shemen Industries of Israel, containing ‘nanodrops’ designed to carry vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals through the digestive system,” as well as a shake produced by the U.S. company Life Sciences Inc., containing “cocoa infused with ‘NanoClusters’ to enhance the taste and health benefits of cocoa without the need for extra sugar.”
Source: Reuters
Background: The emergence of nanofoods
A March 26 article in The Guardian described the new nanotechnology industry, and its numerous possibilities. “There is, then, much disagreement in an industry still in its infancy, an industry that hasn’t yet got international standards of safety. There isn’t even an internationally accepted lexicon of nanotechnology.”
Source: The Guardian
A study from the ETH Zurich’s Institute for Environmental Decisions revealed that, “Consumers have largely grown to accept nanotechnology in nutrition for packaging and, to a lesser extent, even the food itself,” according to a July 22, 2008 article from Science Daily. Researcher Michael Siegrist also stressed that nanofoods will become a hot-button issue and it is necessary to have a public dialogue about it.
Source: Science Daily
Opinion & Analysis: The effects of nanofoods
Jennifer Lowell examines the benefits and risks associated with nanofoods in the CNet Appliances and Kitchen Gadgets blog, and like many others, she is not sure what to think: “Like it or not, as companies shrink down to nano-scale proportions, the nanofood industry keeps getting bigger. While the jury’s out on whether or not nanofoods are safe, or if they will end up in our future food, all we can do is cross our fingers and hope that before we start eating them, we understand what they can do to our bodies and the environment.”
Source: CNet
Former EPA official J. Clarence Davies released a report on July 23, 2008 imploring the next U.S. administration to devote more resources to the oversight of nanotechnology. He quotes David Rejeski, the director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, as saying “Potential risks of nanoscale materials have already been identified, and for the world to realize the benefits of this technology, the next administration must act swiftly and carefully.” Rejeski also said, “This will be a challenge, but one that could have limitless opportunities to improve the world in the 21st century.”
Source: The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies
“The future is nanotechnology,” says the IEEE Foundation, an engineering group predicting “molecule-size machines that will change factories, reshape the environment, cure diseases, and greatly expand our technological horizons.” The IEEE Virtual Museum traces the history of nanotechnology, from “an almost-forgotten 1959 lecture by Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman, who proposed the idea” until the present. Innovations have accelerated in the past decade, the Foundation says, leading to breakthroughs in medicine, computer technology, and consumer products. “By far the best known is the controversial ‘nanotechnology’ trousers introduced by The Gap and Eddie Bauer stores in 2005, in which ordinary cotton pants were treated with nanoparticles of a new, stain-resistant chemical that attached itself to the cotton molecules.”
Source: IEEE Foundation
Reference: Nanotechnology
FindingDulcinea’s Web Guide to nanotechnology explores what nanotechnology is, how researchers are hoping to use it, including in medicine, and what the critics are saying about the consequences of using this potentially world-changing technology.
Source: findingDulcinea
Related Topic: ‘Nanotechnology Halts Spread of Cancer in Mice’
On July 10, findingDulcinea reported that, “Scientists have shown that using drug-infused nanoparticles in mice can stop the spread of cancer throughout the body.”
Source: findingDulcinea
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