Is a framework for managing nanotech risks emerging?

Filed in archive Regulation on July 24, 2006

GMO has became a dirty word, and if the nanotech industry isn't careful its products could suffer the same fate, says a story at wired.com:

"The scary part of it is that if we were to demand that nano products be tested for health and safety prior to release, we're not even sure how to do the tests," says David Rejeski, director of the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.

"We might end up with a situation where companies that are acting responsibly, like Dupont, are at a competitive disadvantage to less scrupulous companies which launch products without any safety testing," adds Scott Walsh, a project manager with Environmental Defense's corporate partnerships department. "If that's what happens, government regulation might become a more reasonable approach than voluntary standards."

This summer, Dupont unveiled its Framework for Responsible Nanotechnology, a set of standards and practices for testing nano-products for health and environmental hazards before releasing them commercially. It's a surprising move from a company not exactly synonymous with public health and environmental stewardship. The framework is also unique in that it was drawn up in coordination with Environmental Defense, an non-governmental environmental rights organization.

"So far all we've seen from nanotechnology are better tennis rackets and nice pants," he said. "That's about to change. This stuff will be in our drugs, our food, our cosmetics and everything else. It's better to plan now for how to deal with it than wait another five years."

As you can see from the posts here at nanotechbuzz, Rejeski's wrong about how much nanotech has contributed to the market ($32 billion worth of products last year alone), but he's right that we're in for a major upsurge, and the time to plan is now.