| Summary: |
The European Community funded the IMPART project in order to improve the understanding of the impact of nanoparticles on human health and the environment. This booklet aims to provide a review of actual knowledge regarding the health risks and to make recommendations for the safe handling of nanoparticles in industry, government, and NGOs. It lists a number of EU reports included in the IMPART database (www.temas.ch/Impart/ImpartProj.nsf). Current knowledge has focused on ceramics, carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, and fullerenes. Hazards and toxicity of these have been investigated, at least in part, by some of these reports. While regulation covers potential nanoparticle risks in principle, knowledge must be improved before legislation can fully address the problem. Specifically, genotoxic effects, verification of oxidative stress as a marker for potential toxicity, interference of nanomaterials with the risk assessment tests, translocation of nanoparticles in the blood stream, dosimetrics modification by particle aggregation, and models to predict the full lifetime impact of nanoparticles are needed. In the absence of this data, current best practices have focused on conventional methods and practices of controlling exposure. There exist serious gaps which need to be addressed so that exposure can be precisely controlled in new methods. In the meantime, particular attention should be paid to poorly soluble particles with at least one diameter below 100nm, or aerosols, as these pose the greatest risks. |