(NHI Nanoblog) As the European Commission starts thinking about creating new rules for medical devices that use super-small materials to gain big advantages, an associated research group is asking for input.
The Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks, or SCENIHR, recently put out a call for information about problems associated with medical materials that use nanomaterials. These applications are growing fast, and range from catheters coated with nanosilver to block germs to bone cement fortified with carbon nanotubes.
According to the committee’s call for assistance (read it here), other nano-enabled medical treatments include dental cements and dental restorative materials and wound dressings impregnated with nanosilver. The group plans to examine non-invasive devices — that is, those that stay outside the body — as well as invasive ones, including injected nanoparticles.
Nanotechnology leverages the often-unique properties of super-small particles (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter) to create products with amazing qualities. These materials can make better batteries or lighter and stronger bike frames, as well as new medical instruments and medicines that can save lives. They’re increasingly common in consumer products, from “mineral-based” sunscreens to stain-repellent pants to boat paints that resist algae growth.
Nanomaterials are believed to hold great promise for a wide variety of applications. Their ultra-tiny size also gives them different properties; scientists are struggling to figure out whether that can make them dangerous in the process, and how and why it happens.
While U.S. regulators have moved fairly slowly, the Europeans are pushing to impose some regulatory framework on these super-small materials.
Nano-based medicine is a booming area, from novel cancer therapies to better diagnostic tests. But how fast — or even whether — these materials clear the body is a significant issue in some applications. The rise of nanosilver as an antimicrobial has raised additional concerns, especially about its effect on antibiotic resistance, and its potential impact on the environment.
The SCENIHR wants your story by March 2013.