Brazilian research dedicated to nanotechnology and risks to health and environment

Nanotechnology has great potential to transform science and industry in a lot of areas. Despite the large interest in research in this area, the safety risks and the impact of the use of nanotechnology on health are still underexplored. This study aims to identify the research conducted in Brazil regarding the risks involving the use of nanotechnology. It was based on Directory of Research Groups and on Curriculo Lattes. We detected 798 articles about nanotechnology and health, but only 41 of them making reference to environmental, health and safety issues, showing the small volum  of researches about this subject in Brazil. Bibliometric techniques and data mining software were used for the selection and analysis of results. The scientific production in question is scattered in different periodicals. The emergence of new themes in recent years may represent a desirable indicator of growing interest in regulatory and social issues in Brazil. Article informationSubmitted: 1 / Apr / 2014 Accepted: 24 / Jul / 2014Conflicts of interest: No conflicts of interest to declareFunding sources: National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) through research grants.authorial contributionDesign, work planning, study design, analysis and interpretation of results, writing, review of preliminary and final versions; approval of the version: Maria Simone de Menezes AlencarDesign, analysis and interpretation of results, writing, review of preliminary and final versions; approval of the version: Rosany BochnerWork planning, data collection: Miriam Ferreira Freire Days