EC Calls for Public Dialogue on Nanotechnologies
June 18, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
The European Commission (EC) plans to start a public consultation on nanotechnologies to increase knowledge and awareness about this field's potential, as well as to ensure adequate protection of the environment and human health from this growing technology.
The EC contends that nanotechnologies have enormous potential benefits for manufacturers, consumers, employees, patients and the environment in Europe.
They can introduce more energy- and resource-efficient processes, improve computer memories and processors, and usher in a new age of customized pharmaceuticals and medical procedures.
While current legislation in the European Union (EU) covers, in principle, the challenges to health, safety and environment from nanomaterials, the EC believes more research and international cooperation is needed, especially as more and more products involving nanomaterials are reaching the market.
"A reliable and stable regulatory framework is essential for enabling the EU's industry to fully exploit the advances of nanotechnologies. With the right structures in place, they will boost innovation and contribute to growth, employment creation and competitiveness," said Günter Verheugen, EC vice president, responsible for enterprise and industry policy.
Stavros Dimas, EC commissioner responsible for environment policy, said, "The regulatory challenge is to ensure that society benefits from novel applications of nanotechnologies, while ensuring a high level of protection of health, safety and the environment and thereby fully applying the precautionary principle."
"In today's Europe, nanotechnologies must be developed in a safe, integrated and responsible way, involving all stakeholders so that new applications can result in real benefits for EU citizens in the area of health," said Androulla Vassiliou, EC commissioner responsible for health.
Vladimir Špidla, EC commissioner for employment and social affairs, added, "Nanotechnologies hold out exciting opportunities for creating new jobs in Europe, but we must make sure that any potential risks to workers' health and safety are properly addressed in the relevant EU workers protection legislation."
Important economic, social and environmental potential
Nanotechnologies process materials are at the atomic, molecular and macromolecular scale, where properties may differ from those seen at a larger scale.
Products based on nanotechnologies are already in use, and analysts are predicting explosive economic growth in the sector over the coming decade.
Nanotechnologies will boost innovation in areas such as public health, information and communication technology (ICT), the manufacturing industry, environmental protection, energy, transport, security and space.
Forecasts for the world market for nanotechnologies by 2015 range between €750 and €2,000 billion, and the potential for job creation is estimated at 10 million nanotechnology-related jobs by 2014 - that is, 10% of all manufacturing jobs worldwide.
Nanotechnologies are covered by existing legislation, such as REACH, the current legislative framework for chemicals, and by other specific-sector legislation for food, cosmetics, medicine, and so forth.
Improving the knowledge base
The EC's call for a public consultation underlines the need for improved routine monitoring devices and better data on toxic and eco-toxic effects, and improved test methods to generate such data.
Several aspects of nanomaterial safety require international collaboration to ensure that the nomenclature, standards and test methods can be compared globally, and that the scientific methods used for regulatory purposes are internationally the same.
Much work has already been done in this area, notably by the Working Party on Manufactured Nanomaterials of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In addition, under the OECD Committee on Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP), a Working Party on Nanotechnology was established in March 2007. Its objective is to promote international co-operation in order to facilitate research, development and responsible commercialization of nanotechnology in both member and non-member countries.
Next steps
The EC maintains that knowledge about the character of nanomaterials and its hazards and need to be improved. Therefore, the EC is backing targeted actions in a number of areas and at different levels, particularly in the field of research and development under the Sixth and Seventh Research Framework Programmes and the EC's Joint Research Centre.
Such activities will be coordinated and discussed with stakeholders in the framework of the OECD and the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) and through international cooperation.
The EC will also engage in an open dialogue with citizens and stakeholders at large to accompany the correct application of existing legislation to the new products arriving on the market.
More information
For more information, see:
Source: European Commission.