Risk Assessment and Controlling of Hazards and Exposure of Engineered Nanomaterials

The use of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) grows rapidly due to the great number of their industrial and consumer applications. The use of ENM is the development of novel materials for new purpose has led to a quick increase in the numbers of workers exposed to ENM. The number these workers in the US alone are likely between one and two millions and in the rest of the work the number probably exceeds these figures. However, the amount of knowledge on hazards associated with exposure to ENM, or the levels of exposure to these materials continues to be inadequate, and renders the assessment of potential quantitative risks of ENM problematic.    Assessment of risks of ENM requires information on hazards from most sensitive critical target organs and toxic endpoints from studies in which relevant exposure routes and levels regarding the work environment have been used. In addition, information from exposure levels at workplaces in different exposure settings is required to assess the significance of the results of experimental studies, and conduct quantitative risk assessment to set for example occupational exposure limits (OEL). In most cases quantitative risk assessment is not possible.    When the knowledge on ENM-induced potential health risks is inadequate, one has to utilize other means to protect the health of workers. One can prevent or minimize exposure to ENM by using the best available technology (BAT) or as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) principles. Control banding principles have also become recently popular. In this approach hazard bands are generated based on toxicological and material data of ENM and these bands are associated with exposure bands reflecting the levels of exposure. Supported by the European Union 7th Framework Programme Grant CP-IP-211464-2 (NANODEVICE Project).