Federal funding will help a team of Hopkins professors in the creation of a new minor that will investigate the threat posed by nanotechnology.
The nanotechnology risk assessment and public policy minor will be offered in 2009 and will build off of Nanobiotechnology 101, a course to be offered for the first time next semester.
"We need to be aware of the risks to avoid future environmental and public health problems," said Edward Bouwer, chair of the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering.
According to Jonathan Links, professor of Environmental Health Science at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, nanotechnology is "research and development at the molecular, atomic or macromolecular range ... to create and use structures, devices and systems that have novel properties."
According to the Woodrow Wilson Institute, there may be as many as 500 commercial products that already use nanomaterials. These range from skin care products and disinfectants to dressings for burn wounds and dental adhesive.
While many consider nanotechnology the wave of the future, others caution that scientists don't have a good understanding of the effects of nanomaterials on human health.
"Most of what we think about the risks is based on extrapolation from asbestos, metals and ultrafine particles," Links said.
There is concern that like these similarly sized particles, nanomaterials could have the ability to get deep into the body, causing problems ranging form allergies to cancer.
Nanotechnology could also have adverse effects on the environment. "We do not want to go too far down the road of making nanoproducts that could eventually cause environmental harm," Bouwer said.
The unknown effects worried Bouwer and Links, both of whom are affiliated with the Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology. The Institute will use a $200,000 grant from the National Science foundation to create the minor, which will examine the potential downside of nanotechnology.
For these professors, it is essential that the consequences of nanotechnology are examined sooner than later.
"A key concept is that studying risks hand-in-hand with benefits best allows risk mitigation at an early stage of R&D [research and development], before the technologies are widely disseminated and used," Links said.
The nanotechnology risk assessment minor will consist of seven courses: Nanobiotechnology 101; Nanotechnology Risk Assessment; Nanotechnology Ethics, Law and Policy; Nanotechnology Environmental Impacts; Nanotechnology Human Health Impacts and a seminar series.
They will be mostly at the 400-level but catered to students from both the engineering and arts and sciences schools.
"I think the minor in risk assessment will offer a nice complement or balance to the disciplines that promote the production of nanoparticles," Bouwer said, noting that "there is a lot of funding and interest to manufacture nanoparticles and nanomaterials ... it is important for students to get educated on the topic of potential risks."
Public opinion toward nanotechnology is currently very positive, which Bouwer and Links find troubling.
"I think the public and politicians are only hearing about the potential positive aspects of nanotechnology," Professor Bouwer said. "There is very little emphasis on the potential risks."
