This document contains summaries of three journal articles about nanotechnology: 1) The first article discusses the emergence of green nanotechnology as a more sustainable alternative to business nanotechnology, and the need for research on the environmental and health risks of nanotechnology. 2) The second article examines research on the environmental, health, and safety impacts of nanotechnology (Nano-EHS) and aims to determine whether people are concerned about nanotechnology risks. 3) The third article analyzes the environmental risks of silver nanoparticles, which are widely used but can be toxic pollutants, and attempts to quantify their toxicity based on factors like size and silver ion release rate.

1. Rivas 1
Shachy Rivas
Ms. Grant
C.A.U.S.E - Environmental Science
26 February 2012
Journal Reviews
The Road to Green Nanotechnology
-Barbara Karn
According to this journal, there are two roads that one can take to the nanotechnology
community: business and green nanotechnology. Although it is used more frequently, business
may not be as sustainable and friendly to the environment as green nanotechnology, which is
used less frequently. The emergence of nanotechnology has allowed scientists to change one
material into another by just changing the size of the material. “For a technology that is predicted
to constitute 15% of total production output in 2012, researching $2.6 trillion in manufactured
goods globally … research in determining risks and promoting sustainability is on the
nanoscale.” (Karn, 2008). Many people are excited about nanotechnology but are not paying
attention to the risks, so some organizations take it upon themselves to focus on these risks and
spread awareness. When asked about nanotechnology, the public was more worried about
privacy rather than the environmental and health risks. Green nanotechnology has two goals:
creating products that don’t harm the environment and creating products that solve
environmental challenges. Ways to reach those two goals are continuously being debated, but
will eventually be put to use.
Measuring the influence of nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety research

2. Rivas 2
-Stephen Carley and Alan L Port
This journal thoroughly describes the reasoning behind citing nano research.
Nanotechnology has been around for decades, but a new focus is green nanotechnology. Because
this area has enormous economic potential, people tend to focus on the benefits and ignore the
risks. The goal of researchers is to be able to “maximize its benefits while simultaneously
minimizing its risks.” (Carley, 2011). Nano-EHS, research that focuses on the impact that
nanotechnology has on health and the environment, began to receive much attention in 2005.
They state that previous studies have measured the influence of research streams and studied the
growth rate of citation networks. Currently, they are more focused on who is citing Nano-EHS
research. Nano-EHS is primarily concerned with human and environmental safety, therefore,
they believe that it is more important to focus on the ‘who’ in order to determine whether people
are actually concerned about the risks of nanotechnology. Overall, this journal presents their
main goal, which is to be abld to conduct research in order to advance and raise awareness of
EHS concerns.
Environmental and Human Health Risks of Aerosolized Silver Nanoparticles
-Marina E. Quadros and Linsey C. Marr
This journal begins to analyze the environmental risks of nanotechnology and silver
nanoparticles in particular. Silver nanoparticles have become one of the most popular types of
nanomaterials today due to their antibacterial properties. Although bulk silver is used worldwide
and seems safe, elemental silver can be a toxic pollutant to humans and the environment.
Nanoparticles can be harmful because they can go into the respiratory tract, be absorbed by cells,
and move into sensitive organs. The presence of silver nanoparticles in the atmosphere is largely

3. Rivas 3
overlooked. In this journal, a quantification of the toxicity of silver nanoparticles is attempted.
Nanoparticle size, chemical composition, crystal structure, surface area, and the rate of silver ion
release are expected to be important variables in determining toxicity. It is important to know the
effects of silver nanoparticles because it is estimated that 14% of silver nanotechnology products
release silver nanoparticles into the air.