Thought for food on nanotech safety

The UK's Food Safety Agency (FSA) has come up with a draft report on how it might deal with regulation and risk assessment of nanotechnologies "in relation to food". The FSA's own review is "part of the Agency’s contribution to the UK government strategy on nanotechnologies".

 

So far the review "has not identified any major gaps in regulations but there is uncertainty in some areas whether applications of nanotechnologies would be picked up consistently". When it comes to risk assessment "the existing model ... is applicable to nanomaterials although there are major gaps in information for hazard identification".

 

It would be unwise to assume that nothing will come up during the consultation exercise, especially if you are working on innovations that might fit into this remit. After all, there is a savvy lobby out there, and it is not likely to miss the chance to chip in with warnings of scary threats. Indeed, one lobbying body, the ETC Group, already brings together concerns about nanotechnology and genetically modified crops.

 

This particular outfit was quick off the mark when an earlier scare came up. ETC put out a press release in which it demanded "a global moratorium on nanotech lab research and a recall of consumer products containing engineered nanoparticles".

 

The scare in particular was about a German product called MagicNano, a bathroom cleaner that caused some unexplained nasty respiratory side effects when people used it. The story made headline news all round the place and was the cue for ETC's demand for a moratorium.

 

Funnily enough, we did not get the same blanket coverage when the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment put out a recent press release saying that "nano particles are not the cause of the health disorders, in some cases severe, which occurred after using so-called sealing sprays".

 

The culprit seems to be something in the aerosol cans containing the new product. Worse, there wasn't even anything nano on the product. It did, though, try to do things at the nano scale when applied, so it wasn't quite pure hype.

 

With that sort of thing going on, it makes sense for people hoping to turn nanotechnology into commercial opportunities to respond to things like the FSA's consultation. You have until 14 July to offer your input.