A small matter of great concern.(Have You Heard?)

An advertising postcard from Mr. Carruthers, silver-plater, circa 1923, hangs in a friend's kitchen: "If there be economy in anything, it certainly is in getting the good old silverware properly replated--for when properly replated, it is as superior to the trash made nowadays as gold is to brass."

I thought of Mr. Carruthers recently as I read a report from our appliance engineers. They had just tested the SilverCare washer, which its manufacturer, Samsung, claims "releases up to 400 billion silver ions that then penetrate deep into the fabric to sanitize clothing." (See our Up Front report on page 9.) It's one of a growing number of consumer products with nanotechnology claims and one of the first we've tested.

"Nanotechnology" sounds so freakishly futuristic that my first reaction was to think it's pure sci-fi. But the buzz in manufacturing, medicine, consumer groups, and the government shows it's very much in the here and now. Maybe a little too now. We seem to have missed a few steps: manufacturing standards, labeling regulations, safety guidelines, and oh, yes, efficacy requirements.

For a definition, I turned to the National Nanotechnology Initiative, a federal research and development program involving 23 agencies. The NNI says that nanotechnology is research and development at the atomic, molecular, or macromolecular level of 1 to 100 nanometers; that their size dictates that the resulting items or systems will have novel properties and functions; and that they must be able ...