Nanotechnology Project

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Risk, Environmental, Health and Safety

Also see our Inventory of Environment, Health and Safety Research.

  • events/archive January 14, 2009 Nanotech and Your Daily Vitamins Historically, the regulation of dietary supplements has been a significant challenge for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the fact that some of these products are now being manufactured using nanotechnology creates an additional layer of complexity. Is FDA equipped to meet the emerging regulatory challenge of dietary supplements that use engineered nanomaterials?
  • events/archive January 8, 2009 Synthetic Biology: Is Ethics a Showstopper? Synthetic biology promises to enable cheap, lifesaving new drugs to treat the 350-500 million people who suffer from malaria, and to create innovative biofuels that can help solve the world’s energy problems. But are synthetic biologists playing God? Will synthetic biology’s expected products and profits be stymied by policymakers and the public? Join us and explore these unresolved questions with Dr. Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • news/archive December 18, 2008 Experts Argue Nano Food-Additives Require New Oversight Nanotechnology policy experts are urging that food additives containing nanoscale materials be subject to new safety testing to ensure that their use does not pose unintended risks. The call comes as nanotechnology emerges as a major regulatory challenge facing the incoming Obama administration.
  • news/archive December 10, 2008 Panel Blasts Federal Nanotech Risk Research Strategy A National Research Council committee today issued a highly critical report describing serious shortfalls in the Bush administration’s strategy to better understand the environment, health and safety risks of nanotechnology and to effectively manage those potential risks. The report calls for a significantly revamped national strategic plan that will minimize potential risks so that innovation will flourish and society will reap nanotechnology’s benefits.
  • publications/archive December 9, 2008 Federal Government Nanotechnology Environment, Health and Safety Research Federal risk-research funding options for moving forward under the next administration
  • events/archive November 14, 2008 Synthetic Biology: Coming up Fast! Synthetic biology is being touted by scientists and venture capitalists as “the next big thing.” Researchers claim to be on the brink of creating artificial life in a laboratory and making the world’s first synthetic microbes. But will the promises and pitfalls of synthetic biology catch governments, ethicists, biosafety and biosecurity experts, and the public by surprise? video
  • news/archive October 14, 2008 The Frontiers of Nanotechnology The future of how the world communicates, and how we power our lives, will likely come from the same source: nanotechnology. According to the latest NanoFrontiers newsletter and Trips to the Nanofrontier podcast, nanotechnology will be central to developing and using new electronics and energy technologies in the 21st Century. audio
  • news/archive September 30, 2008 Nanotech and Synbio: Americans Don’t Know What’s Coming A groundbreaking poll has found that almost half of U.S. adults have heard nothing about nanotechnology, and nearly nine in 10 Americans say they have heard just a little or nothing at all about the emerging field of synthetic biology. This new insight into limited public awareness of emerging technologies comes on the cusp of a major leadership change in the nation’s capital. video
  • publications/archive September 18, 2008 Poll: Risks and Benefits of Nanotechnology & Synthetic Biology A groundbreaking poll finds that almost half of U.S. adults have heard nothing about nanotechnology, and nearly nine in 10 Americans say they have heard just a little or nothing at all about the emerging field of synthetic biology, according to a new report released by the Project and Peter D. Hart Research. Both technologies involve manipulating matter at an incredibly small scale to achieve something new.
  • publications/archive September 9, 2008 PEN 15 - Silver Nanotechnologies and the Environment Widespread use of nanoscale silver will challenge regulatory agencies to balance important potential benefits against the possibility of significant environmental risk, highlighting the need to identify research priorities concerning this emerging technology, according to a new report released today by the Project.
  • news/archive September 9, 2008 Nanoscale Silver: No Silver Lining? Widespread use of nanoscale silver will challenge regulatory agencies to balance important potential benefits against the possibility of significant environmental risk, highlighting the need to identify research priorities concerning this emerging technology, according to a new report by Dr. Samuel Luoma. Existing information about the impact of silver on the environment offers a starting point for some assessments of nanosilver, the report argues.
  • news/archive September 8, 2008 Nanotechnology and the FDA: Size Matters! In July 2007 the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued its Nanotechnology Task Force Report. This report acknowledged that nanoscale materials potentially could be used in most product types regulated by the agency and that those materials present challenges complicated by the fact that properties relevant to product safety and effectiveness may change as size varies within the nanoscale.
  • publications/archive August 21, 2008 PEN 14 - The Consumer Products Safety Commission and Nanotechnology The inability of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to carry out its mandate with respect to simple, low-tech products such as children’s jewelry and toy trains bodes poorly for its ability to oversee the safety of complex, high-tech products made using nanotechnology, according to E. Marla Felcher.
  • news/archive August 21, 2008 Consumer Product Safety Commission Not Ready For Nanotech The inability of the Consumer Product Safety Commission to carry out its mandate with respect to simple, low-tech products such as children’s jewelry and toy trains bodes poorly for its ability to oversee the safety of complex, high-tech products made using nanotechnology, according to a new report written by consumer product expert and Harvard lecturer E. Marla Felcher.