Taking stock of the occupational safety and health challenges of nanotechnology: 2000-2015.

Engineered nanomaterials significantly entered commerce at the beginning of the 21st century. Concerns about serious potential health effects of nanomaterials were widespread. Now, approximately 15 years later, it is worthwhile to take stock of research and efforts to protect nanomaterial workers from potential risks of adverse health effects. This article provides and examines timelines for major functional areas (toxicology, metrology, exposure assessment, engineering controls and personal protective equipment, risk assessment, risk management, medical surveillance, and epidemiology) to identify significant contributions to worker safety and health. The occupational safety and health field has responded effectively to identify gaps in knowledge and practice, but further research is warranted and is described. There is now a greater, if imperfect, understanding of the mechanisms underlying nanoparticle toxicology, hazards to workers, and appropriate controls for nanomaterials, but unified analytical standards and exposure characterization methods are still lacking. The development of control-banding and similar strategies has compensated for incomplete data on exposure and risk, but it is unknown how widely such approaches are being adopted. Although the importance of epidemiologic studies and medical surveillance is recognized, implementation has been slowed by logistical issues. Responsible development of nanotechnology requires protection of workers at all stages of the technological life cycle. In each of the functional areas assessed, progress has been made, but more is required.

Occupational safety and health criteria for responsible development of nanotechnology.

Organizations around the world have called for the responsible development of nanotechnology. The goals of this approach are to emphasize the importance of considering and controlling the potential adverse impacts of nanotechnology in order to develop its capabilities and benefits. A primary area of concern is the potential adverse impact on workers, since they are the first people in society who are exposed to the potential hazards of nanotechnology. Occupational safety and health criteria for defining what constitutes responsible development of nanotechnology are needed. This article presents five criterion actions that should be practiced by decision-makers at the business and societal levels-if nanotechnology is to be developed responsibly. These include (1) anticipate, identify, and track potentially hazardous nanomaterials in the workplace; (2) assess workers' exposures to nanomaterials; (3) assess and communicate hazards and risks to workers; (4) manage occupational safety and health risks; and (5) foster the safe development of nanotechnology and realization of its societal and commercial benefits. All these criteria are necessary for responsible development to occur. Since it is early in the commercialization of nanotechnology, there are still many unknowns and concerns about nanomaterials. Therefore, it is prudent to treat them as potentially hazardous until sufficient toxicology, and exposure data are gathered for nanomaterial-specific hazard and risk assessments. In this emergent period, it is necessary to be clear about the extent of uncertainty and the need for prudent actions.

Overview of Risk Management for Engineered Nanomaterials.

Occupational exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) is considered a new and challenging occurrence. Preliminary information from laboratory studies indicates that workers exposed to some kinds of ENMs could be at risk of adverse health effects. To protect the nanomaterial workforce, a precautionary risk management approach is warranted and given the newness of ENMs and emergence of nanotechnology, a naturalistic view of risk management is useful. Employers have the primary responsibility for providing a safe and healthy workplace. This is achieved by identifying and managing risks which include recognition of hazards, assessing exposures, characterizing actual risk, and implementing measures to control those risks. Following traditional risk management models for nanomaterials is challenging because of uncertainties about the nature of hazards, issues in exposure assessment, questions about appropriate control methods, and lack of occupational exposure limits (OELs) or nano-specific regulations. In the absence of OELs specific for nanomaterials, a precautionary approach has been recommended in many countries. The precautionary approach entails minimizing exposures by using engineering controls and personal protective equipment (PPE). Generally, risk management utilizes the hierarchy of controls. Ideally, risk management for nanomaterials should be part of an enterprise-wide risk management program or system and this should include both risk control and a medical surveillance program that assesses the frequency of adverse effects among groups of workers exposed to nanomaterials. In some cases, the medical surveillance could include medical screening of individual workers to detect early signs of work-related illnesses. All medical surveillance should be used to assess the effectiveness of risk management; however, medical surveillance should be considered as a second line of defense to ensure that implemented risk management practices are effective.

[The dynamics of the indices of protein metabolic homeostasis and the status of duodenal mucosal regeneration during the etaden treatment of duodenal peptic ulcer]. / Dinamika nekotorykh pokazatelei belkovo-metabolicheskogo gomeostaza i sostoianie regeneratsii duodenal'noi slizistoi v protsesse lecheniia iazvnenoi bolezni dvenadtsatiperstnoi kishki étadenom.

The authors relate the results of examining 149 men suffering from duodenal ulcer. The main group was made up of 75 patients given parenteral etaden treatment combined with conventional therapy. A study was made of the dynamics of clinical manifestations, the level of total protein and its fraction in the blood, protein metabolism (by radionuclide technique). Pieces of the duodenal mucosa from the periulcerous area were examined under microscope. Scanning and electron microscopy was also performed. Based on the data obtained it is concluded that etaden had active influence on protein synthesis, which favoured more rapid regression of the ulcerous defect in the main group patients. Morphological studies have also shown the positive dynamics of the regenerative process.

[Comparative immunoenzyme analysis of the fertility alpha2-microglobulin in healthy donors and in patients with gynecological malignancies]. / Sravnitel'nyi immunofermentnyi analiz alpha2-mikroglobulina fertil'nosti u zdorovykh donorov i pri onkoginekologicheskikh zabolevaniiakh.

Immunoenzymatic procedure is developed for estimation of fertility alpha 2-microglobulin. Content of the protein was increased in blood serum of patients with carcinoma of ovary and uterus as well as with chorionepithelioma. The immunoenzymatic analysis of fertility alpha 2-microglobulin might be used as an additive test in diagnosis of these diseases.

[Preparative isolation of human fertility alpha 1-microglobulin using ion-exchange chromatography]. / Preparativnoe vydelenie alpha2-mikroglobulina fertil'nosti cheloveka metodom ionoobmennoi khromatografii.

A preparation of fertility alpha 2-microglobulin was isolated from an extract of decidual tissue with a purity about 95% and complete maintaining of native properties using chromatography on anion and cation exchange Sephadexes.

[Immunoenzyme analysis of the fertility alpha 2-microglobulin in the blood serum of men and women]. / Immunoénzimologicheskii analiz al'fa 2-mikroglobulina fertil'nosti v syvorotke krovi muzhchin i zhenshchin.

It has been found that fertility alpha 2-microglobulin content in male and female serum does not exceed 20 ng/ml and 40 ng/ml, respectively. A high level of fertility alpha 2-microglobulin was found in the serum in early pregnancy, with its concentration decreased by parturition.