Nanotechnology Project

Topics

Risk, Environmental, Health and Safety

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

  • news/archive February 11, 2008 Know Your Nano? Free iPods To Those With High “Nano IQ”! Five free iPod Nanos are up for grabs! To celebrate the launch of our redesigned website, the Project is sponsoring a “Nano-IQ” contest. Winners will be randomly selected from those who successfully complete the five-question quiz. - UPDATE: Winners Announced!
  • news/archive February 6, 2008 European Commission Gives Grant To Investigate Transatlantic Oversight Of Nanotechnology Researchers at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Chatham House, Environmental Law Institute and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, have been awarded a $587,000 European Commission grant to conduct an international research project on regulating nanotechnologies in the European Union and United States
  • publications/archive February 4, 2008 Biased Assimilation, Polarization, and Cultural Credibility: An Experimental Study of Nanotechnology Risk Perceptions When the public considers competing arguments about a new technology’s potential risks and benefits, people will tend to agree with the expert whose values are closest to their own, no matter what position the expert takes. According to this study, the same will hold true for nanotechnology.
  • news/archive February 1, 2008 Nanotechnology’s Future Depends On Who The Public Trusts When the public considers competing arguments about a new technology’s potential risks and benefits, people will tend to agree with the expert whose values are closest to their own, no matter what position the expert takes. The same will hold true for nanotechnology, a key study has found.
  • news/archive January 28, 2008 EPA Takes First Step In Filling Nanotech Information Gaps The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published today in the Federal Register its plan for the Nanoscale Materials Stewardship Program under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The plan takes a positive first step by offering industry, non-governmental organizations and other groups the opportunity to voluntarily submit safety data on engineered nanoscale materials.
  • publications/archive January 4, 2008 Looking Back on the First Two Years This report reviews the Project’s major activities, key contributions, and most significant impacts over its first two years.
  • publications/archive December 12, 2007 A Survey of Environmental, Health and Safety Risk Management Information Needs and Practices among Nanotechnology Firms in the Massachusetts Region
  • news/archive December 12, 2007 Nanotechnology Companies Need Clear Environment and Health Roadmap to Succeed Today, the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies released the results of a new survey of New England-based nanotechnology companies aimed at discovering how firms in almost every sector of the economy address the possible environmental, health and safety (EHS) impacts of new nanoscale materials and products. The survey found that these firms lack a clear roadmap of government EHS expectations and regulations for successful commercialization, as well as the information needed to meet those expectations.
  • publications/archive December 3, 2007 Feynman, Voltaire and Beckett on Nanotechnology This presentation examines flaws in the assertion by the U.S. government that the existing regulatory system is adequate to address risks from nanotechnologies and explores actions that need to be taken to help foster successful commercialization of nano products.
  • news/archive October 31, 2007 U.S. Government Delays Nanotechnology Safety Measures Want to buy a bag of carbon nanotubes—in quantities from a few grams to hundreds of kilograms? With a credit card and Internet access, you can. But is the U.S. government doing enough to ensure the safety of these materials and the hundreds of other nanotechnology commercial and consumer products currently on the market? video
  • events/archive October 9, 2007 Responsible NanoCode You are invited to the US launch of an international consultation on a new Code for Responsible Nanotechnology aimed principally at businesses and research organizations. video
  • news/archive September 13, 2007 Federal Research Plan to Determine Nanotech Risks Fails to Deliver Almost a year in the making, a federal plan to prioritize research on the potential environmental, health, and safety (EHS) impacts of nanoscale materials has so many failings that its begs the question as to whether the government’s 13-agency nanotechnology research effort is able to deliver an effective risk research strategy, according to David Rejeski, head of the Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies.
  • news/archive August 2, 2007 Does EPA Have an Adequate Strategy to Oversee Nanotechnologies? Can it get needed information through a proposed program where companies voluntarily submit details about the nature of the nanomaterials they are using to manufacture products and about their steps to ensure safety? What incentives, if any, exist for firms to take part in this new EPA program? And how appropriate is the agency’s approach for classifying nanoscale substances under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)?
  • events/archive July 26, 2007 Where Does the Nano Go? New Report on End-of-Life Regulation of Nanotechnologies Please join us on July 26, 2007, for the release of this report featuring the authors, along with Leslie Carothers, President of the Environmental Law Institute, and David Rejeski, Director, Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. The discussion will focus on the end-of-life regulation of nanotechnologies. video
  • news/archive July 26, 2007 Where Does the Nano Go? New Report on End-of-Life Regulation of Nanotechnologies All materials and products eventually come to the end of their useful life, and those made with nanotechnology are no different.This means that engineered nanomaterials will ultimately enter the waste stream and find their way into landfills or incinerators—and eventually into the air, soil and water. A new report authored by legal experts from the Environmental Law Institute addresses these issues. video