NLM® Resource — Tox Town® Update

[Editor's Note: This is a reprint of an announcement published on NLM-Tox-Enviro-Health-L, an e-mail announcement list available from the NLM Division of Specialized Information Services. To subscribe to this list, please see the NLM-TOX-ENVIRO-HEALTH-L Join, Leave, or Change Options page.]

Tox Town, the National Library of Medicine® interactive guide to commonly encountered toxic substances, has released a Nanoparticles page.

This resource provides a brief summary of nanotechnology and has links to additional resources.

The summary can also be found in Spanish at Nanopartículas.

Nanotechnology uses matter at sizes between approximately 1 and 100 nanometers. Nanotechnology involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and working with matter at this scale. Nanomaterials have unique optical, electrical, and magnetic properties. The small size of these materials makes them promising and challenging to work with. However, their characteristics may be different from those of larger particles with the same chemical composition.

There is concern about the interaction of nanoparticles with human health and their effects on the environment. The risk of pollution from nanoparticles and associated health problems to those involved in manufacturing these materials as well as to consumers using these products is unknown.

NLM® Resource — Tox Town® Update. NLM Tech Bull. 2010 Jan-Feb;(372):e19.