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Following the widely publicised release of Song et. al.'s study into lung disease in Chinese workers expoed to nanoparticles in the workplace (accessible here), there was of course much discussion within both the nano and wider community as to the paper's implications and its issues. SAFENANO published a special feature on the ...

Time for a nano-break.  I’ll be taking a break from the SafeNano blog over the next three weeks, as my family try to convince me there really is life beyond nanotechnology (I’m sceptical).  In the meantime, I couldn’t resist giving loyal readers something to think about in my absence:When was the first intentionally engineered nanoscale ...

Addressing potential nanotechnology environment, health and safety (EHS) impacts up-front makes good business sense – doesn’t it?  The US-based advisory firm Lux Research certainly thinks so.  The latest document from the organization—“Nanomaterials State of the Market Q3 2008: Stealth Success, Broad Impact”—recommends investors ...

It seems that significant nanoparticle risk studies are just like London buses, you wait ages for one to arrive and then two come along together.   Last month we had the Poland et al. study concerning the hazardous nature of MWCNT. This highly reported study was the first to explicitly test the hypothesis that long carbon nanotubes behave ...

''Nanotechnology'' as an overarching concept is great for sweeping statements and sound bites, but falls short when it comes to real-world decision-making.  As nanoscale technologies are increasingly used in everything from antimicrobial socks to anti-cancer drugs, perhaps its time to rethink how we talk about the myriad diverse technologies ...

(Added Oct 24 2008: This article is also available at 2020science.org) If you want proof that nano is mainstream, just pick up the U.S. May edition of fashion magazine “Elle.”   Sharing cover-space with Madonna is the latest article on nanotech and the beauty business.Elle might not be your first choice of reading for cutting edge ...

The small American town of Sunnyville is a town in crisis.  Against a backdrop of job losses that have decimated the local community, citizens are struggling to decide whether to welcome two major nanotech-enabled industries into the town, or whether to reject them because the new technology might create more problems than it solves.  As ...

Events over the last couple of weeks have confirmed the view that nanotechnology risk issues are moving sharply up the political agenda in the UK at least.   Firstly,  on the 21st February we had a statement in the House of Commons from Ian Pearson, Minister of State (Minister for Science and Innovation) in the Department for ...

Reading the just-released European Commission’s recommendations on a code of conduct for responsible nanosciences and nanotechnologies research (pdf download, 92 KB.  Also see the recent SafeNano news item on the code), I cannot help wonder if the race towards successful and sustainable nanotechnologies is becoming something of a hare and ...

Labelling – is there anything more contentious in the safe nanotech debate?  Some are fearful that too much knowledge will confuse and worry muddle-headed consumers.  Others can only see the marketing opportunities of a “nano-inside” label. Then you have the nano-doomsday merchants, who seemingly would like nothing better than to slap a ...