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Nanomaterials should be banned in foods and some packaging, and there should be mandatory labelling for these novel compounds in cosmetics, personal-care products and cleaning agents, says the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy.

The institute says the food ban should be in place by November of 2009 and the labelling requirement by May of 2010. It contends that the "extremely rapid commercialization" of consumer products containing nanomaterials "requires an unprecedented sense of urgency by government in the creation of policy for this area."

Nanomaterials are extremely small, engineered substances that many environmentalists worry could be the next frontier for hazardous chemicals in consumer goods. They're currently being added to many products, including wrinkle- and stain-resistant fabrics, sunscreens and sports equipment, such as tennis racquets, among other items.

CIELAP, a Toronto-based environmental policy think tank, is issuing the timelines and recommendations in a report being released today.

Although the health or environmental threats, if any, posed by nanomaterials are not known, Susan Holtz, a senior policy analyst at the institute, said "this is an emerging issue" driven by the fast growth in commercial applications for the new technology.

The regulatory framework for ensuring the safety of these novel materials isn't well developed in Canada or elsewhere around the world, Ms. Holtz said. She said the labelling requirement would give consumers more information with which to decide whether to buy a product.

The report, written by Ms. Holtz, also recommends that the federal government create a Canadian inventory of products containing these compounds, a record of research activities on them, and a worker safety program for those involved in their manufacture.

More than 500 consumer items incorporate nanomaterials, according to a non-governmental tally maintained by the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, with three of them made by Canadian firms. One industry estimate projected that about $1-trillion worth of products incorporating nanotechnology will be on the world market by 2015.

Nanomaterials are very minute - ranging in size from one to 100 nanometres. One nanometre equals a billionth of a metre, and it would take about 100,000 particles the size of one nanometre to equal the diameter of a human hair.

Scientists make nanomaterials by arranging metals and other compounds at the level of the atom in unique ways, often into shapes resembling rods or spheres, creating new substances with more strength, conductivity or durability than the original materials from which they are constructed.

Because of their small size, there are fears that when products using nanomaterials break down, some of the tiny particles will be able to cross into cell membranes or become embedded in tissues in a way that is similar to such carcinogens as asbestos or such health hazards as the small particulates, or soot, contained in air pollution.

Ms. Holtz said nanomaterials are also being used in medical applications. She is worried that nanomaterials containing silver as an anti-bacteriological agent in wound dressing, for instance, could get into the environment and harm wildlife. She said there is "beginning to be an accumulation of evidence that things like this have ecological impacts." Environment Canada and Health Canada issued a proposed regulatory framework for nanomaterials last year in September.

The government wants to regulate nanomaterials in the same way as new chemicals, if they have a unique structure or molecular arrangement. The requirement would expose nanomaterials to additional safety testing, but Ms. Holtz said the scientific protocols for evaluating these substances have not yet been determined.