Monday, October 24, 2005

[IWS] EC: NANOTECHNOLOGY: Assessing the RISKS (Public Consultation) [20 October 2005]

IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies                   Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations           Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor                    Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016                        Director, IWS News Bureau
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European Comission

Press Release [20 October 2005]
NANOTECHNOLOGY: COMMISSION LAUCHES A CONSULTATION ON HOW BEST TO ASSESS THE RISKS
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumer/dyna/enews/enews.cfm?al_id=89

The Commission is launching a public consultation on risk assessment methods for nanotechnologies. Nanotechnology involves the controlled production of new materials which have one or more dimensions thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Industry is increasingly using nanotechnology for a wide variety of sectors, including healthcare, consumer products, information technology and the environment. The online consultation, which will run until 16th December 2005, aims to gather feedback on the appropriateness of current risk assessment methods for nanotechnology products and how they can be improved.

AND MORE....

see-
Public consultation SCENIHR Opinion on
How to Assess the Potential Risks of Nanotechnologies
http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scenihr/scenihr_cons_01_en.htm

Nanotechnologies are expected to make a major contribution to improving the quality of the life of European citizens, in particular in sectors such as material sciences, health care, information technology, and the environment. In view of their growing importance, the < ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/nanotechnology/docs/nano_com_en.pdf> Commissions strategy for nanotechnologies, which was endorsed in the < http://ue.eu.int/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/intm/82067.pdf> Conclusions of the Council of the European Union of 24 September 2004, and the Commission's action plan "< ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/nanotechnology/docs/nano_action_plan2005_en.pdf > Nanosciences and nanotechnologies: An action plan for Europe 2005-2009" recognized the need for a safe, integrated and responsible approach to the development of nanotechnologies.

Nanotechnologies involve the controlled production of new materials, structures, and devices of a size which is typically eighty thousand times smaller then the diameter of a human hair. The nanoscale confers new, interesting technological properties which may however have potential implications for safety and therefore need to be assessed in advance.

In response to a request from the Commission, the independent experts of the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) recently adopted an opinion on "< http://europa.eu.int/comm/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scenihr/docs/scenihr_o_003.pdf > the appropriateness of existing methodologies to assess the potential risks associated with engineered and adventitious products of nanotechnologies."

The Commission, in consultation with the Committee, invites interested stakeholders to submit their views on the opinion by Friday, 16 December 2005 < http://europa.eu.int/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=nanotechnology > via this website.

Following the consultation, the SCENIHR and Commission services will carefully examine all the comments, in order to further refine approaches to risk assessment of the products of nanotechnologies. The outcome of the consultation will be published on this page.
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Stuart Basefsky                   *
Director, IWS News Bureau                *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School                        *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             *
New York, NY 10016                        *
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