Getting to Green - Research Progress on Environmental Health and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials - page 50

“Models” of many types are inherent in Figure 4-1. For example, some models will be used to
estimate exposures of human populations and ecosystems to ENMs across their value chains and life
cycles. Predictive models need to be developed to anticipate risks posed by ENMs. Such models require
validation, which will be facilitated by an iterative process that involves data access through the
knowledge commons. “Screening tools” will be needed to generate data that can be used to establish
priorities for knowledge creation that in turn can be used to formulate models to predict risks posed by
new ENMs. Such knowledge generation will be developed in an iterative fashion that draws on research
results from mechanistic and complex systems of research.
Figure 4-1 shows the relationship between the research activities and risk, which in turn inform a
broad range of decision-making by diverse stakeholders, including regulators, manufacturers, and the
public. Models provide the bridge from research findings to risk estimation and characterization of
uncertainty. The estimation of risk is iterative. The overall research process provides feedback to
materials generation with the goal of reducing the potential risk presented by ENMs and the products that
they enable.

INVENTORIES

MATERIALS

REFERENCE ENM RELEASES

KNOWLEDGE
COMMONS

LABORATORY
WORLD

REAL
WORLD

VALIDATION

SCREENING TOOLS

MODELS

METHODS/INSTRUMENTS METHODS/INSTRUMENTS

RISK

DECISION MAKING

FIGURE 4-1 Nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety research enterprise. The diagram shows the
integrated and interdependent research activities that are driven by the production of ENMs. The production of
ENMs is captured by the orange oval, labeled “materials”, which includes reference materials, ENM releases, and
inventories. (An inventory is a quantitative estimate of the location and amounts of nanomaterials produced or
current production capacity, including the properties of the nanomaterial.) The knowledge commons (red box) is the
locus for collaborative development of methods, models, and materials, and for archiving and sharing data. The
“laboratory world” and “real world” (green boxes) feed into the knowledge commons. The laboratory world
comprises process-based and mechanism-based research that is directed at understanding the physical, chemical, and
biologic properties or processes that are most critical for assessing exposures and hazards and hence risk (NRC
2012, p. 55). The “real world” includes complex systems research involving observational studies that examine the
effects of ENMs on people and ecosystems. The purple boxes capture the range of methods, tools, models, and
instruments that support generation of research in the laboratory world, the real world, and the knowledge commons.