Documents Woods, Catherine 4 results

"Une première revue de la littérature sur les nanoparticules a incité l'IRSST à publier deux rapports à ce propos au début de 2006, soit sur les risques des nanotechnologies pour la santé et sur divers aspects d'hygiène industrielle les concernant. Or, vu l'évolution rapide des connaissances scientifiques, une mise à jour s'impose déjà. Les chercheurs feront une revue exhaustive de la littérature rendue disponible jusqu'à la fin de 2006 relativement aux risques pour la santé, à l'hygiène industrielle et aux moyens de contrôler l'exposition aux nanoparticules en milieu de travail. En plus de consolider le développement de l'expertise québécoise en ce domaine, cette activité permettra d'intégrer de nouvelles données dans le guide de bonnes pratiques en voie d'élaboration ainsi que d'anticiper les risques reliés à des procédés émergents afin de prévenir l'apparition de maladies professionnelles dans les établissements du Québec qui utilisent les nanotechnologies."

"An initial assessment of the state of scientific knowledge about the occupational health and
safety aspects (OHS) related to synthetic nanoparticles (NP) was published by the IRSST in 2006
and covered the scientific literature until the end of 2004. What was found was that OHS
knowledge was very fragmentary but that research in this field was rapidly growing. This current
document aims to assess the state of current knowledge in this field and summarizes the data
available until early 2010.
Overall, what emerges is that NP remain an important source of concern in OHS. In fact, not
only does the diversity of commercially available chemical products of nanometric dimensions
continue to increase, but also, the information available about the hazards specific to these
substances is still very fragmentary. The literature gives us very little information specific to NP
relating to their physical hazards like fires or explosions. As for health hazards, many
toxicological studies on different substances have demonstrated toxic effects on various organs.
It is found that in general, an NP will normally be more toxic than the same chemical substance
of larger dimensions, but it is currently impossible to determine which measuring parameter for
exposure is best correlated with the measured effects. The evaluation of occupational exposure
must therefore address a series of different parameters, and the exposure data available are
relatively rare. It should also be noted that at the present time, attention is particularly focused on
carbon nanotubes (CNT), which seem to show, in different animal studies, toxicity similar to that
of asbestos and consequently causing great concern in the international scientific community,
mainly relating to prevention.
In a context of incomplete data for the majority of nanometric substances, it remains impossible
to quantify the risks for workers in the majority of situations because the toxicity of the products,
the level of dust contamination of workplaces, or their potential to cause fires or explosions
remain not extensively documented or totally undocumented. Nevertheless, the majority of the
means of exposure control for ultrafine particles should be effective against NP and much
research is currently being carried out to confirm this.
In a context of uncertainty about the risks, and with an increasing number of potentially exposed
workers, the current report paints a big picture of the OHS knowledge currently available in the
NP field. In the absence of specific standards, a preventive and even a precautionary approach
are recommended, and a review of the available means for minimizing worker exposure is
presented. The needs for developing new knowledge are enormous and the authors propose some
avenues of research that they feel are a priority in the current Québec context."

"An initial review of the literature on nanoparticles prompted the IRSST to publish two reports on this subject early in 2006, namely on the health risks of nanotechnologies and on various aspects of industrial hygiene that involve them. Considering the rapid evolution in scientific knowledge, an update is already necessary. The researchers will conduct an exhaustive review of the literature made available up to the end of 2006 relating to health risks, industrial hygiene, and the means of controlling workplace exposure to nanoparticles. In addition to strengthening the development of Québec expertise in this field, this project will allow new data to be integrated into the good practices guide that is being developed, as well as allow the risks related to emerging processes to be anticipated, in order to prevent the appearance of occupational diseases in Québec establishments that use nanotechnologies."