Advancing Health and Safety for the 21st Century Nanotechnology Workforce: The growth of the nanotech industry is outpacing occupational risk assessment

摘要

The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) defines nanotechnology as the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of 1-100 nanometers, where unique biological, chemical, and physical properties emerge. Its increasing use in nano-enabled consumer products has been tracked by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) since 2006 and has shown a dramatic increase of 768% from 212 products to 1,628 in October 2013. It is expected that by this year (2014), nanotechnology will impact many manufacturing sectors with 15% of all products utilizing nanotechnology, totaling nearly $2.6 trillion in manufactured goods. Meanwhile, the nanotechnology workforce is also growing, with an estimated total of 6 million in 2020, of which 2 million are projected to work in the U.S.