Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Martin McCarthy

The UK's Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution today published a report entitled Novel Materials in the Environment:
The Case of Nanotechnology, which warns of the potential health dangers inherent in nanomaterials.

"The Commission's broad conclusion is that the speed of development in the field of nanotechnology 'is beyond the capacity of existing testing and regulatory arrangements to control the potential environmental impacts adequately,'" writes The Independent's Steve Connor. "In summary, not enough is known about the effect that these very small devices and materials will have on human health or the environment, and the tests that could tell us about them are either not available or not being used."

"Asbestos for insulation, chlorofluorocarbons for refrigeration, and tetra-ethyl lead in petrol were all used in the report as examples of materials which were initially thought harmless but later revealed to have public health costs," writes ZDNet's Tom Espiner.

"Nanotechnology did not need a new regulatory regime, the commission decided," writes the FT's Clive Cookson. "Instead, Europe's existing regulatory system for chemicals, known as Reach, should be extended to encompass nanoparticles."

More here from New Scientist ... more here from BBC News ... more here from the Guardian ... more here from TechRadar ... and more here from Tech Digest.