Stop! Tiny danger ahead

Thus did the quirky idea of holding a design contest turn into a global outpouring of creativity.

Nanotechnology is the hot new science of the very small, in which researchers are engineering materials and devices as tiny as a billionth of a meter across. At those scales, even mundane materials such as carbon perform extraordinary feats8212;conducting electricity, for example, or triggering chemical reactions8212;that they8217;d never do in their chunkier forms.

Already, hundreds of products containing nanomaterial are on the market, including stain-resistant fabrics, high-tech tennis rackets, cosmetic creams and sunscreens, computer hard drives and even a 8220;Nanoceuticals Slim Shake,8217;8217; which claims to deliver nutrition directly into your cells in the form of 8220;CocoaClusters8217;8217; 100,000 times smaller than a grain of sand.

But while nanomaterials offer scientists, cosmetologists and health food companies a whole new palette of matter to work with, they also pose new risks to people and the environment. Animal studies have shown that certain engineered nanoparticles can penetrate cells and migrate into the brain and other organs with uncertain consequences. Some can also concentrate in the soil and kill beneficial microbes.

While many scientists believe that most nanomaterials will ultimately prove to be benign, ETC Group8212;which has called for a moratorium on the marketing of nanoproducts until more safety studies are done8212;believes in erring on the side of caution. That led to the realisation that there is not yet a widely recognised way to warn people of the little risks around them.

Other toxic hazards have signs and symbols that everyone has come to know think: The Nuclear Hazard sign, the Biohazard sign, the generalized Toxic Hazard sign with its skull and crossbones. But how to symbolize, in a way that everyone can understand, the potentially dangerous presence of something inconceivably small?

8220;We decided to launch a competition, to get a good design and to raise public awareness,8217;8217; said Hope Shand, ETC8217;s research director. 8220;We thought we might receive a dozen entries or something.8217;8217; They were thinking small. By last week, more than 400 designs from 24 countries had been filed to the group8217;s website, etcgroup.org/nanohazard.

Some mimic the molecular cross sections of nanotubes. Others play off the letter 8220;N8217;8217;; or the exponent for one-billionth; or the idea of a magnifying glass. 8220;We were absolutely amazed by the response,8217;8217; Shand said.

A panel of six judges, including nanoscientists and artists from such respected institutions as England8217;s Liverpool University and the Chicago Art Institute, winnowed the offerings to 16 finalists. Attendees at the current World Social Forum in Nairobi will vote for their favourite sign.

8220;We plan to send the winning design to all the standard-setting bodies we can find,8217;8217; Shand said. That would include the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission, both based in Geneva, which are the prime standard-setting bodies for international hazard symbols.

A word of advice if you come upon such a sign in your travels: Give the area a wide berth8212;say, a millimeter or two.

RICK WEISS