GoodNanoGuide goes public
Rice-based ICON introduces open-source wiki on safe handling of nanomaterials

BY MIKE WILLIAMS
Rice News staff

The Rice University-based International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON) has introduced the GoodNanoGuide, an online, community-driven wiki for information about the safe handling of nanomaterials.

The beta version of the GoodNanoGuide can be found at www.GoodNanoGuide.org. 

Fostered by ICON, the GoodNanoGuide is a highly collaborative, interactive resource by and for the occupational safety and nanotechnology communities, law and industry. It was introduced this week by ICON Director Kristen Kulinowski, a faculty fellow in chemistry at Rice and executive director of the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology, in a talk at the American Industrial Hygiene Association conference in Toronto.

“This is a collaborative project administered by ICON, but it really belongs, if we want to be super-expansive about it, to the world,” Kulinowski said. “We’re just hosting it and shepherding it through the lengthy development process.”

The GoodNanoGuide is a practical tool for people who handle nanomaterials, as well as an online repository of safety protocols. It has been developed by experts from the worlds of nanotechnology, occupational safety and business, and is governed by an implementation committee from North America and Europe.

International Council on Nanotechnology
Find out how Rice is creating a partnership for nanotechnology stewardship and responsibility
GoodNanoGuide
Need advice on handling nanomaterials? Browse the GoodNanoGuide
All GoodNanoGuide content is freely available via the Internet. Visitors may add their comments by becoming “Community Members,” and experts may contribute and edit protocols by becoming “Expert Providers.”

”Governmental agencies and occupational researchers are generating a lot of good information about how to handle nanomaterials safely,” Kulinowski said. ”The GoodNanoGuide points to and supplements these resources with specific protocols that can be used by workers in any setting where they are being handled.”

More than two years in development, the GoodNanoGuide was inspired by a challenge set forth at the International Conference on Nanotechnology, Occupational and Environmental, Health and Safety: Research and Practice, in Cincinnati in December 2006. That same year, an ICON survey of occupational practices for handling nanomaterials revealed a great need for improved communication about best practices.

“There was a very long lull after the idea was presented, and nobody acted on it,” Kulinowski said. “But when it came to ICON, we got some momentum behind it, and it started to move forward pretty rapidly.”

She credited Kathryn Cavender, Rice’s director of environmental health and safety, with critical early contributions to the site, which has taken about nine months of “serious push” to get online.

Financial support for the development of the GoodNanoGuide beta site was provided by ICON, nanoAlberta, British Columbia Nanotechnology Alliance – Nanotech BC, Industry Canada, Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail and NanoQuebec.