Bush's FDA allowing "Nano Foods" into our supermarkets. Small particles could breach the blood brain barrier.

Nano-foods: The next consumer scare?
By Barbara Liston
Wed Jul 30, 12:27 PM ET


Those consumers already worried about genetically engineered or cloned
food reaching their tables may soon find something else in their
grocery carts to furrow their brows over -- nano-foods.

Consumer advocates taking part in a food safety conference in Orlando,
Florida, this week said food produced by using nanotechnology is
quietly coming onto the market, and they want U.S. authorities to
force manufacturers to identify them.

Nanotechnology involves the design and manipulation of materials on
molecular scales, smaller than the width of a human hair and invisible
to the naked eye. Companies using nanotechnology say it can enhance
the flavor or nutritional effectiveness of food.

U.S. health officials generally prefer not to place warning labels on
products unless there are clear reasons for caution or concern. But
consumer advocates say uncertainty over health consequences alone is
sufficient cause to justify identifying nano-foods.

"I think nanotechnology is the new genetic engineering. People just
don't know what's going on, and it's moving so fast," Jane Kolodinsky,
a consumer economist at the University of Vermont, said at the
conference.

American consumers are generally more complacent about genetically
modified or cloned foods than their counterparts in Europe.

But Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with the Consumers Union, said
polls show that 69 percent of Americans are concerned about eating
cloned meat.

He said that in focus groups run by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, no parents were willing to feed their children meat
from cloned animals or their offspring.

In a recent CBS/New York Times poll, 53 percent of Americans said they
wouldn't buy genetically modified foods.

SCANT AWARENESS

Hansen said there is scant public awareness, however, about foods
produced through nanotechnology.

New consumer products created through nanotechnology are coming on the
market at the rate of 3 to 4 per week, according to an advocacy group,
The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN), based on an inventory
it has drawn up of 609 known or claimed nano-products.

Nano-products in common use today include lightweight tennis rackets
and bicycles, and sunscreens containing clear, nonwhite versions of
zinc oxide and titanium dioxide.

They also include lipsticks, and many items labeled as anti-microbial
that contain silver ions such as socks, washing machines, salad
spinners and food containers.

On PEN's list are three foods -- a brand of canola cooking oil called
Canola Active Oil, a tea called Nanotea and a chocolate diet shake
called Nanoceuticals Slim Shake Chocolate.

According to company information posted on PEN's Web site, the canola
oil, by Shemen Industries of Israel, contains an additive called
"nanodrops" designed to carry vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals
through the digestive system.

The shake, according to U.S. manufacturer RBC Life Sciences Inc., uses
cocoa infused "NanoClusters" to enhance the taste and health benefits
of cocoa without the need for extra sugar.

The tea, says manufacturer Shenzhen Become Industry & Trade Co., Ltd.
of China, is prepared with nanotechnology to "release effectively all
of the excellent essences of the tea" and increase by a factor of 10
"the selenium supplement function."

Hansen, whose organization publishes the nonprofit product-testing
magazine Consumer Reports, said there is no requirement that nano-
products be identified as such.

He called for stronger federal regulations to require safety testing
and labeling.

"Just because something is safe at the macro level, doesn't mean it's
safe at the nano size," Hansen said. "All scientists agree that size
matters."

Hansen said recent studies have shown that nano-sized particles in
some cases can invade cells and breach the blood-brain barrier, and
that some forms of nano-sized carbon could be as harmful as asbestos
if inhaled in quantity.

"This represents science at the cutting edge. These technologies raise
basic scientific issues," Hansen said.

(Editing by Michael Christie, Maggie Fox and David Wiessler)

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