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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
This section is meant to give readers an insight into the emerging field of nanotechnologies and risk regulation. It informs and updates readers on the latest European and international developments in nanotechnologies and risk regulation across different sectors (e.g., chemicals, food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals) and policy areas (e.g., environmental protection, occupational health and consumer product, food and drug safety). The section analyzes how existing regulatory systems deal with new kinds of risks and reviews recent regulatory developments with a focus on how best to combine scientific freedom and technological progress with a responsible development and commercialization of nanotechnologies.
Please send inquiries to n.jaspers@lse.ac.uk.
1 Cientifica, “Nanotechnology Takes a Deep Breath … and Prepares to Save the World!”, Cientifica Report (2009).
2 Falkner, Robert et al., “Consumer Labelling of Nanomaterials in the EU and US: Convergence or Divergence?”, EERG Briefing Paper 2009/03 (London: Chatham House).Google Scholar
3 Anika Gupta, “Nanotech Devices Must be Regulated”, Livemint.com 22 February 2010, available on the Internet at <http://www.livemint.com/2010/02/22234526/Nanotech-devices-must-beregul.html> (last accessed on 9 July 2010).
4 The OECD Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials (WPMN) publishes an annual update of regulatory and risk assessment activities in participating countries. This document as well as reports on other activities by the WPMN can be found on the Internet at <http://www.oecd.org/document/53/0,3343,en_2649_37015404_37760309_1_1_1_1,00.html> (last accessed on 9 July 2010).
5 See European Parliament (2009), “European Parliament Resolution of 24 April 2009 on Regulatory Aspects of Nanomaterials”, 2008/2208 (INI).
6 See Diana Bowman, Joel D'Silva and Geert van Calster, “Defining Nanomaterials for the Purpose of Regulation within the European Union”, 2(1) European Journal of Risk Regulation (2010), pp. 115–122.
7 See, for example, European Parliament (2009), “European Parliament Resolution of 24 April 2009 on Regulatory Aspects of Nanomaterials”, 2008/2208 (INI); European Parliament (2009), “Novel Foods, MEPs Set New Rules”, European Parliament Press Release 25 March 2009, available on the Internet at <http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?language=EN&type=IM-PRESS&reference=20090324IPR52497> (last accessed on 9 July 2010); FDA (2007), “Nanotechnology Task Force Report”, Department of Health and Human Services; EPA (2007), “Nanotechnology White Paper”, Office of the Science Advisor, Science Policy Council; European Commission (2010), “Considerations on a Definition of Nanomaterial for Regulatory Purposes”, JRC Reference Report.
8 ICON (2008), “Towards Predicting Nano-Biointeractions”, ICON Workshop Report No. 4
9 For a review of the link between carbon nanotubes and mesothelioma, see Kristen M. Kulinowski, “Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Mesothelioma”, An ICON Backgrounder (2009), available on the Internet at <http://icon.rice.edu/resources.cfm?doc_id=12299> (last accessed on 9 July 2010).
10 A reproduction of the lecture can be found on the homepage of Zyvex, a molecular nanotechnology company, available on the Internet at <http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html> (last accessed on 9 July 2010).
11 Taniguchi, Norio, “On the Basic Concept of Nanotechnology”, Proceedings of the International Conference of Production Engineering, Vol. 2. (Tokyo: Japan Society of Precision Engineering 1974).Google Scholar
12 See, for example, Gerd Bachman, “Innovationsschub aus dem Nanokosmos”, Zukünftige Technologien, Nr. 28 (VDI-Technologiezentrum Report 1998).
13 Available on the Internet at <http://www.wtec.org/loyola/nano/us_r_n_d/03_03.htm> (last accessed on 9 July 2010).
14 Mihail Roco, “Towards a US National Nanotechnology Initiative”, 4 Journal of Nanoparticle Research (1999), Vol. 1.
15 D. W. Budworth, “Overview of Activities on Nanotechnology and Related Technologies”, Report on a Study for the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of the European Commission, Joint Research Centre, 1996, p. 12.
16 Bennett, Ira and Sarewitz, Daniel, “Too Little, Too Late? Research Policies on the Societal Implications of Nanotechnology in the United States”, 4 Science as Culture (2006), Vol. 15, pp. 309–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17 Eric Drexler, Letter to Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering (2003), available on the Internet at <http://www.nanotec.org.uk/evidence/DrexlerEricwritten2.pdf> (last accessed on 9 July 2010).
18 Nanowerk, “Russia's $ 10 Billion Nanotechnology Program”, 3 December 2008, available on the Internet at <http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=8485.php> (last accessed on 9 July 2010).
19 Ira Bennett and Daniel Sarewitz, “Too Little, Too Late? Research Policies on the Societal Implications of Nanotechnology in the United States”, supra note 16, p. 314.
20 US Senate (2006), Statement of Todd L. Hylton Before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Concerning Developments in Nanotechnology, available on the Internet at <http://commerce.senate.gov/pdf/hylton-021506.pdf> (last accessed on 9 July 2010).
21 At the European Commission's 2008 “Safety for Success” conference.
22 See, for example, the EU's new “Cosmetics Regulation” (Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009), p. 61.
