New ISO standard helps find out how toxic nanoparticles are

With the rapid growth of nanotechnology-based products, researchers, manufacturers, regulators and consumers are increasingly concerned with their safety and environmental impact. To help address this issue, ISO has published an International Standard to support the inhalation toxicity testing of nanoparticles.

The potential of nanotechnology is huge and its applications range as wide as medicine, beauty, IT, advanced materials and even food. But as a relatively new technology, scientists still have a lot to learn about nanoparticles.

Dr Peter Hatto, Chair of the committee that developed the standard, explains, “With the rapid expansion of nanotechnology applications comes a growing risk of exposure to potentially toxic substances, especially for workers in nanotechnology-based industries. Moreover, if airborne nanoparticles were liberated from products, the general public could also be affected. Ensuring the safety of these particles is therefore paramount for the wellbeing of workers and consumers.”

Carefully monitored tests are used to establish the inhalation toxicity of airborne nanoparticles. The new standard, ISO 10808:2010, Nanotechnologies - Characterisation of nanoparticles in inhalation exposure chambers for inhalation toxicity testing, helps ensure that the results of such tests are reliable and harmonised worldwide.

Dr Hatto adds, “In order to test inhalation toxicity it is necessary to monitor concentration, size and size distribution of nanoscale particles in an inhalation chamber. Traditional methods used in other areas are considered insufficient for testing nanoparticles since parameters specific to them like particle surface area or number might be crucial determinants of toxicity. ISO 10808 takes into account the particular characteristics and potential risks of nanoparticles, and is thus an important asset to the industry.”

ISO 10808 establishes a battery of inhalation toxicity testing chamber monitoring, including a differential mobility analysing system (DMAS), for determining particle number, size, size distribution, surface area and estimated mass dose, as well as morphological examination using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) or scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analyser (EDXA) for chemical composition.

ISO 10808:2010, Nanotechnologies - Characterisation of nanoparticles in inhalation exposure chambers for inhalation toxicity testing, was developed by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 229, Nanotechnologies, and is available in Australia from SAI Global (www.saiglobal.com).