Nanotech – small scale, big questions

Which? is warning the Government to heed the advice of top scientists and make understanding nanotechnologies a top priority.

Nanotechnologies - a wide range of technologies that use materials on an incredibly small scale – can bring many potential benefits from more effective medicines to self-cleaning windows.

Yet Which? is concerned that, despite repeated calls from expert scientific bodies, the Government is failing to address fundamental uncertainties about how some materials will behave at this small scale.

In the rush to put nano-products on the market – it is estimated that there are already over 500 available to consumers** - the potential health and environmental risks are not being properly addressed.

The consumer watchdog Which? has issued the Government with a ten point action plan*** which includes:

• Establishing a strategic stakeholder group to push the actions needed
• Prioritising research into health and environmental risks
• aking sure the public is consulted through a UK-wide debate about the direction of nanotechnologies

Which? chief policy advisor Sue Davies says:

“Nanotechnologies have the potential to offer many exciting benefits. But before the market is flooded with products, it’s crucial the government addresses the lack of scientific understanding about some of their uses. The public needs to be consulted and involved in the decisions about the issues raised by nanotech – the potential risks and benefits and their future direction.”

Ends

Notes to Editor

*Nanotechnologies are a group of technologies that use materials on an incredibly small scale: one nanometre is a millionth of a millimetre, about the equivalent of one eighty thousandth of a human hair. At this scale, materials have different properties that enable them to be used in different ways.

**In May 2007, The Woodrow Wilson Center has a global inventory of nanotechnology consumer products on the market. http://www.nanotechproject.org/index.php?id=44&action=intro

An article by Which? chief policy advisor Sue Davies on the questions surrounding nanomaterials in consumer products will appear in the September edition of Consumer Policy Review.

***10 Point action plan

The Government has to take a more responsible approach and act on the advice it has received. This has to focus around the following ten key areas:

CO-ORDINATION: Establishing a strategic stakeholder group to ensure there is effective input from all sectors of society and that the necessary measures are implemented and progress monitored.

• DEFINITIONS: Ensuring there are agreed definitions for nanotechnologies.
• PRODUCTS: Understanding what products are already on the market, in the pipeline or at the research stage and identifying those likely to raise most concerns based on current understanding.
• RESEARCH: Increasing funding and ensuring the uncertainties around the environmental and health risks presented by some manufactured nanomaterials are urgently addressed.
• ASSESSMENT: Providing clarity over how the safety of nanomaterials should be assessed given the current knowledge gaps.
• PRECAUTION: Applying the precautionary principle to products where there are potential risks, but where it is not currently possible to assess their safety, so that consumers are not put at risk.
• TRANSPARENCY: Ensuring there is openness about the uncertainties that some nanomaterials may raise and the research underpinning safety assessments as well as claims about potential benefits.
• REGULATION: Addressing the loopholes in regulations so that nanomaterials are included and there is clear guidance on how the regulations apply.
• INFORMATION: Ensuring consumers, industry and regulators have clear information about where nanomaterials are being used and that any claims they make are true.
• ENGAGEMENT: Involving the public in meaningful discussions about the development of the technology, priority applications and any no-go areas.