Back in 2011 — before that actually — I was asked to write the introduction to an edited book on assessing nanoparticle health risks to human health.
In 2016 a second edition of the book was published, with with a spruced up introductory chapter.
This is one of the few places that I’ve written broadly about the nature of nanoparticle health risks and provided a historic context that tends to be overlooked. Sadly–and as all too often happens with edited books–that chapter is virtually inaccessible to most readers, being lodged in a book that costs well over $100.
So I thought I’d replicate it here–for free.
This is based on the final draft of the chapter and so doesn’t match it precisely. But hopefully it’s still of use. And if you’re interested in the original, as of writing this, you can download it here–although this may not last!
1 INTRODUCTION
In 1990, two consecutive papers appeared in the Journal of Aerosol Science asking whether inhaled particles smaller than 100 nm in diameter are more harmful than an equivalent mass of larger particles (Ferin, Oberdörster et al. 1990, Oberdörster, Ferin et al. 1990). On a mass for mass basis, nanometer-scale particles of TiO2 and Al2O3 were shown to elicit a significantly greater inflammatory response in the lungs of rats compared to larger particles with the same chemical composition. At the time, this research was little more than a curiosity – a novel response to relatively benign materials. But with the advent of the field of nanotechnology, the importance of understanding how the physical form and chemical composition of increasingly sophisticated nanoscale materials influence human health risks has escalated. Now, the ability to identify, assess and address potential impacts from intentionally engineered nanomaterials is seen by many as critical to the success of an increasing range of nanotechnology-based products.
