State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China.
College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Small. 2020 May;16(21):e2000603. doi: 10.1002/smll.202000603. Epub 2020 Apr 27.
Nanotechnology is enjoying an impressive growth and the global nanotechnology industry is expected to exceed US$ 125 billion by 2024. Based on these successes, there are notions that enough is known and efforts on engineered nanomaterial environmental health and safety (nano-EHS) research should be put on the back burner. However, there are recent events showing that it is not the case. The US Food and Drug Administration found ferumoxytol (carbohydrate-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle) for anemia treatment could induce lethal anaphylactic reactions. The European Union will categorize TiO as a category 2 carcinogen due to its inhalation hazard and France banned use of TiO (E171) in food from January 1, 2020 because of its carcinogenic potential. Although nanoindustry is seemingly in a healthy state, growth could be hindered for the lack of certainty and more nano-EHS research is needed for the sustainable growth of nanoindustry. Herein, the current knowledge gaps and the way forward are elaborated.
纳米技术正在蓬勃发展，预计到 2024 年，全球纳米技术产业将超过 1250 亿美元。基于这些成功，有人认为已经了解了足够多的知识，应该将工程纳米材料环境健康与安全（nano-EHS）研究的工作放在次要位置。然而，最近发生的一些事件表明事实并非如此。美国食品和药物管理局发现，用于治疗贫血的 Ferumoxytol（碳水化合物涂层超顺磁性氧化铁纳米颗粒）可能会引发致命的过敏性反应。由于吸入危害，欧盟将 TiO 归类为 2 类致癌物，法国还因为其致癌潜力，从 2020 年 1 月 1 日起禁止在食品中使用 TiO（E171）。尽管纳米产业看似处于健康状态，但由于缺乏确定性，其增长可能会受到阻碍，因此需要进行更多的 nano-EHS 研究，以实现纳米产业的可持续增长。本文详细阐述了当前的知识空白和未来的发展方向。
