Fear The Photocopier?

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by Gwyneth K. Shaw | Aug 18, 2011 1:10 pm

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Posted to: Health Care, Nanotech

(NHI Nanoblog) Here’s what researchers at the University of Massachusetts Lowell don’t want you to conclude about their ongoing research on copiers and printers: These linchpins of the modern office throw off nanoparticles, and therefore they’re dangerous.

That’s an easy conclusion to draw from field and lab work that shows elevated levels of super-small particles from copiers, and an inflammatory effect on nasal tissue from a six-hour exposure. But, as is the case with a lot of with safety research on nanotechnology, it’s not that simple.

Gwyneth K. Shaw Photo UMass Lowell Assistant Professor Dhimiter Bello is trying to untangle the truth, along with other faculty and graduate students at the school and Harvard University’s School of Public Health.

Bello and Lowell students John Martin (pictured) and Madhu Khatri presented some of the research at the Fifth International Symposium on Nanotechnology, Occupational and Environmental Health.

Nanotechnology leverages super-small particles (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter) to create products with remarkable properties. These materials can make bike frames lighter and stronger and sunscreen more transparent on the skin, as well as new medical instruments and medicines that can save lives.

There is broad agreement that nanomaterials have lots of potential for a wide variety of applications. But shrinking these substances can change their properties; scientists are struggling to figure out whether, how and why that shift can make them dangerous in the process.

Air samples from copy centers show elevated levels of nanoparticles, which rise throughout the day, compared to measurements taken in the middle of the night. (Nanoparticles are all around us, at levels researchers who do this kind of work refer to as the baseline.) But it’s unclear exactly what the particles are.

It’s true, Bello said, that copier toner contains carbon, iron and silica. The composition of what ends up in the air is harder to discern.

Khatri presented early results from an experiment involving healthy volunteers, who spent six hours at a busy copy center, then submitted to tests of their nasal secretions and urine. The researchers found signs of inflammation in the noses of the volunteers and “signs of oxidative stress” in their urine, Khatri said.

Mechanical ventilation makes a difference, Martin said, reducing the amount of nanoparticles in the air, Martin said,

As with so many studies in the nascent effort to figure out what’s safe and what’s not in the world of the super-small, a lot more work is needed to determine what, if any, long-term effects happen because of exposure to copiers. At issue, too, is whether the machines are responsible, or whether there’s another answer.

So don’t run away from your copier. But do stay tuned for more guidance on what’s happening in the office air.

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