19 research outputs found
Beyond Implications and Applications: the Story of ‘Safety by Design’
Using long-term anthropological observations at the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology in Houston, Texas, the article demonstrates in detail the creation of new objects, new venues and new modes of veridiction which have reoriented the disciplines of materials chemistry and nanotoxicology. Beginning with the confusion surrounding the meaning of ‘implications’ and ‘applications’ the article explores the creation of new venues (CBEN and its offshoot the International Council on Nanotechnology); it then demonstrates how the demands for a responsible, safe or ethical science were translated into new research and experiment in and through these venues. Finally it shows how ‘safety by design’ emerged as a way to go beyond implications and applications, even as it introduced a whole new array of controversies concerning its viability, validity and legitimacy
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Correlation Between Physicochemical Characteristics and Toxicological Properties of Nanomaterials
Abstract : Research Summaries: Nanotoxicology: An emerging discipline evolving from studies of ultrafine particles; Translocation of inhaled ultrafine manganese oxide particles to the central nervous system; Nanoparticle (NP) uptake by type I alveolar epithelial cells and their oxidant stress response; Toxicology of nanoparticles: A historical perspective; In vivo skin penetration of quantum dot nanoparticles in the murine model: The effect of UVR; Testing nanomaterials of unknown toxicity: An example based on Platinum nanoparticles of different shapes; Nanoparticles and the Brain: Cause for Concern?; Concept of assessing nanoparticle hazards considering nano-particle dosemetric and chemical/biological response-metrics; Validation of an LDH assay for assessing nanoparticle toxicity; Safety assessment for nanotechnology and nanomedicine: concepts of nanotoxicology