Nanotechnology
A particular concern of IRGC is that the opportunities flowing from new technologies and innovations are not forgone due to inadequate or inappropriate risk governance, including poor communication. When these technologies have the capacity to alleviate major global concerns, a failure to adopt them has potentially catastrophic consequences.
Nanotechnology is an important and rapidly growing field of scientific and practical innovation that will fundamentally transform our understanding of how materials and devices interact with human and natural environments. These transformations may offer great benefits to society such as improvements in medical diagnostics and treatments, water and air pollution monitoring, solar photovoltaic energy, water and waste treatment systems, and many others.
The transformations may also pose serious risks. The social, economic, political and ethical implications are significant. Because nanotechnology raises issues that are more complex and far-reaching than many other innovations, the current approach to managing the introduction of new technologies is not up to the challenges posed by nanotechnology.
Between 2005 and 2007 an IRGC project developed a generic approach to nanotechnology risk governance. A summary of this project and downloads of all the materials developed during it, including IRGC’s White Paper "Nanotechnology Risk Governance" and the Policy Brief in which we summarise our concluding recommendations, is available here :
Nanotechnology risk governance
IRGC has recently begun work on its second nanotechnology project, which focuses specifically on the risk governance of nanotechnology applications in food and cosmetics. Details are available here :
Risk governance of nanotechnology applications in food and cosmetics