Book from NJIT Professor Explores the Pros and Cons of Nanotechnology

The latest book from NJIT’s Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain captures the dichotomy of nanotechnology: it facilitates everything from the delivery of medicine and sunblock to the development of smart phones and filtration of wastewater but also produces tiny particles that are invisible to the eye and therefore can easily be absorbed by soil or humans.

What’s more, research into the potential toxicity of the particles lags the explosive growth of nanotech, with more than 240 related products now on the market. Such concerns fueled the development of Hussain’s book, Environmental, Ethical and Economical Issues of Nanotechnology, which he co-edited and co-wrote.

Hussain, an adjunct professor and director of laboratories in NJIT’s Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, hopes that the text will be eye-opening for students, researchers and individuals who produce nanotech, and prompt them to seriously consider its effects and safeguards. “I want to help my community, my society in any way I can,” he explained.

Hussain and Gustavo Marques da Costa of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology Farroupilha in Brazil edited the book and Hussain helped write chapters on biotech’s human health effects, its bioavailability and toxicity and the policy- and decision-making around it. Here are four key findings from those chapters.

The inhalation of nanoparticles is linked to diseases. They include bronchitis, emphysema, lung cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. “The presence of these nanoparticles in the air is due to the process of erosion of manufactured materials or to the production, use or manipulation of nanoparticles in industrial processes,” the book explains. “Thus, the inhalation route is the most important human exposure route, mainly in the occupational context.”

Nanoparticles have broad applications. They’re found in detergents, sunscreens, clothing, water filters, solar cells, laptops and smartphones, and are even used in agribusiness. “The use of so-called ‘precision agriculture’ … can aggregate and adapt advanced technologies for a better production yield,” the book adds.

Nanotech is advancing biomedical science in particular. “Nanoparticles have shown promise in drug transport, cancer treatment, neuroprotection and tissue engineering,” the book notes.

Nano’s prime attributes also represent risks. As the book explains, “Nanotechnology offers the prospect of major advances that will improve the quality of life and help preserve the environment. However, the same properties that make nanomaterials attractive — such as small particle size, varied shape and high surface area — can also be responsible for toxic effects on human health and the environment.”

The 228-page book, from Jenny Stanford Publishing, is the third on nanotech that Hussain has co-authored or edited since 2020. The others are The ELSI Handbook of Nanotechnology: Risk, Safety, ELSI and Commercialization (Wiley) and the Handbook of Functionalized Nanomaterials: Environmental Health and Safety (Elsevier). Hussain also has edited books about COVID-19.