Abstract: In October 2005, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the manufacture of a new type of carbon nanotube under the low release and exposure exemption of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). It is the first time the agency approved a new chemical specifically identified as being "nano." All major government environmental, health and safety regulations, like TSCA, were designed before the emergence of nanotechnology -the ability to measure, see, manipulate, and manufacture things at an atomic and molecular scale, usually between 1 and 100 nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter; a human hair is roughly 100,000 nanometers wide. In a nano marketplace, are existing oversight mechanisms adequate or do they need to be reassessed and changed? Does it make sense to consider a new law? Does government have the necessary human and financial resources to anticipate and manage the possible health and environmental implications of nanotechnology? Are there incentives to speed nanotechnology applications for environmentally beneficial uses? Davies' report examines these and other questions.

Abstract: Advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology promise to have major impacts on human health, wealth, and peace in the coming decades. Among the expected breakthroughs are orders of magnitude increases in computer efficiency, human organ restoration using engineered tissue, 'designer' materials created from directed assembly of atoms and molecules, and the emergence of entirely new phenomena in chemistry and physics. This book includes a collection of essays by leading scientists, engineers, and social scientists reviewing the possible uses of these impending technical developments in various industrial, medical, and national security applications, and the corresponding ethical, legal, social, economic, and educational issues that they raise. The report outlines potential areas for research into societal implications of nanotechnology, as well as some preliminary suggestions for how potential positive impacts of nanotechnology can be maximized, while minimizing any possible negative impacts, real or imagined. This book also provides the beginning of a blueprint for how one should address second-order consequences of the new technology, either positive implications or potential risks. This material was prepared under the auspices of the US National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The issues raised in the book are global in scope, going far beyond the immediate impact of the NNI. They ask the general questions of how history and the human condition are affected by technological progress, and how individuals and institutions can seek to guide that progress in ways most beneficial to mankind in the long run.

Abstract: Nanoscience and nanotechnologies are widely seen as having huge potential to bring benefits to many areas of research and application, are attracting rapidly increasing investments from governments and from businesses in many parts of the world. At the same time, nanotechnologies may raise new challenges in the safety, regulatory, or ethical domains that will require social debate. In June 2003 the UK Government commissioned the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering to carry out an independent study into current and future developments of nanoscience and nanotechnologies and their impacts.

Abstract: Contents : Nanotechnology: primarily an order of magnitude -- Small particles with a large surface area -- Natural and artificial nanoparticles -- Through the human body: do all routes lead into the blood? -- Inhalation of nanoparticles -- Particle absorption through the skin -- Particle absorption via the alimentary canal -- Nanoparticles in the body -- Interaction with biological processes -- Nanoparticles in the environment -- Occupational hazards -- Regulatory context -- Implications for insurance -- Asbestos: a viable comparison? -- Risk management -- A challenge for risk communication -- A lesson learnt -- The precautionary principle -- Fostering partnership. A summary publication including papers by the conference's scholars, engineers, and scientists working in the nanotechnology field. Papers provide provides several "outside in" views on nanotechnology and its possible benefits and risks. The key messages include that specifying standards and nomenclature is a foremost priority, that more risk research is urgently needed to lay a sound, objective basis for discussion about nanotechnology, and that stakeholders need to find a common ground to benefit from that exchange. The publication points to how the experts were concerned as much with the concept of "phantom" risk (where no scientifically demonstrable cause-effect relationship can be established as yet) as they were with potential "real" risk. For that reason, they weighed the importance of risk communication heavily. Summary report for the insurance industry on what losses a new technology can give rise to and what the extent and the frequency of such losses will be. With these basics more or less established, the insurer can better assess the future loss burden, calculate a premium commensurate with the risk and grant adequate insurance cover.

Abstract: Paper from United Kingdom Heath and Safety Commission discussing advantages and disadvantages of the precautionary principle for risk analysis of nanotechnology.

Abstract: Paper uses the existing regulatory framework of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) administered by the Environmental Protection Agency and applies it to nanotechnology to study possible effects. Paper discusses limits of using the TSCA to regulate nanotechnology, and explores how current regulation may have to be altered or new regulations passed to address the unique characteristics of nanotechnology.

Abstract: Paper compares three major reports on the possible negative and positive effects related to the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology by Swiss Reinsurance, The Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK, and the Future Technologies Division of Technologiezentrum in Germany. Paper finds striking similarities in the findings and recommendations of these reports, especially in the found need to conduct further toxicology tests on nanoparticles and the calling for adopting the precautionary principle as a guiding ideology when data on health and environmental impacts of nanotechnology is lacking.

Abstract: Article discusses possible future applications of the development of technology and recommends the adoption of the precautionary principle or the foresight principle when looking at how to develop regulations dealing with nanotechnology and possible health, safety, environmental, social or ethical issues.

Abstract: Article discusses the differences between the strict and active form of the precautionary principle and discusses the possible application of the precautionary principle to nanotechnology regulation.

Abstract: In-depth study of the precautionary principle's history, differing definitions, ethical and legal basis, complexity, risk, and cost-benefit analysis of the principle, and its future applications. Also provides numerous case studies on how it can be applied in instances like asbestos.