“Fruit picking,” nanotech style

September 25, 11:00 PM (Mountain Time)

Update, Sept 26, 12:25 PM.  One of the advantages of not being able to publish blog posts as I write them is the option of reviewing them before they finally hit the net.  I finally have internet access for the first time since Wednesday evening.  But in re-reading this post before publishing it, I realize that it is a little dry.  So here are the highlights for anyone who can’t be faffed with reading the whole thing:

1.  I’m at a workshop at Kessler Canyon with a handful of other experts, working out how to get a better handle on measuring workplace exposures to engineered nanomaterials.

2.  We’ve made pretty good progress over the past two days, helped along by gourmet food, stunning surroundings, and the occasional Country and Western song.

3.  Despite my reservations and earlier gripes, this has been a good meeting.  And

4. I’m only here because I made the mistake of becoming something of an expert in nanomaterial exposure assessment.

If you want more of the gory details, read on…

This time last night I was writing about the difficulties of being away from my family on this trip.  One of the questions I raised was whether I should have even come on this little jaunt to Kessler Canyon.  To provide some context to my answer, I thought I should say a little more about the meeting itself.

This particular workshop has its roots in conversations that have been going on for some time now.  Over the past few years, concerns have been growing about how best to handle safely the products of nanotechnology in the workplace.  In particular, people have wanted to know how best to measure exposure to airborne engineered nanomaterials.  Questions have been swirling around whether current measurement techniques will work, if new instruments are needed, what should be measured, and how low an exposure is low enough.  But answers have been few and far between.

Despite a rather obvious lack of progress here, there’s been a feeling in some quarters that there are a few low hanging fruit here which could be dealt with, if only we got the right people together in the same room and didn’t let them go until some answers had emerged – or at the very least a clear path forward.

One of these low hanging fruit is practical advice on exposure measurement.

Even though there’s not a lot known about the potential toxicity of some nanomaterials, people are already handling them in workplaces and possibly breathing them in – and occupational hygiene professionals are desperate for instruments and guidance that will help ensure these people aren’t put at undue risk.  So some months ago, a small group of people got together to see what could be done about the situation.

The result was this week’s workshop.  With the generous support of TSI Incorporated – a leading aerosol instrument manufacturer – and their parent company, Churchill Industries, a handful of leading experts on aerosols, nanomaterials and industrial hygiene were sequestered away in the beautiful yet remote Kessler Canyon lodge to hash out a plan for how to overcome the current impasse on workplace airborne nanoscale material sampling.

Despite how difficult attending this meeting has been for me, I must admit it has been hugely successful.  We are leaving Colorado with a solid plan to develop and release a series of four publications over the next twelve months that will help ensure current measurement methods and approaches are used effectively, and will point the way towards future developments in nanomaterial exposure measurement.

In other words, this was a meeting that addressed a very real and very significant challenge that affected people’s health and their livelihood, and came up with a concrete plan for addressing that challenge.  In short, there is a strong likelihood that it will make an important difference to some people’s lives.

This is probably why I didn’t bail out of it earlier on and why, despite the considerable downsides of traveling on this occasion (and there are more to come), I came anyway.

And why was I invited in the first place?  I guess I made the silly mistake of becoming something of an expert in airborne nanomaterial exposure.  That and making some rather public comments about what needs to be done to develop safer workplaces over the years.

If only I’d kept my mouth shut!

p.s. I should note here that working at 11:00 PM at night is not unusual while I’m in the road.  Usually there’s the day’s email to be sifted through, which often takes me well past midnight.  I guess on this occasion I should be thankful for a complete lack of email at the lodge – isolation does have its advantages!

Follow the whole “On The Road” saga at http://2020science.org/category/on-the-road-again/

This content is published under the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Related posts:

1. No wife should have to celebrate her wedding anniversary with a duster!
2. Yodeling Cowboys at 3 o’clock
3. Never mind the hunting, check out the man-spa!
4. Absent fathers
5. On the road again – epilogue