The Agency's Chairman Sir William Stewart said: "The application of nanotechnology is an exciting development with many potential benefits. However, it is very new technology and some element of precaution is required. More research should be carried out into any possible health effects from the use of nanoparticles, and that is the primary task of the new centre."

The Agency will be collaborating with the Universities of Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Imperial College and King's College London and the MRC Toxicology Unit in Leicester.

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But the growth of this new industry has some scientists worried that the minuscule particles may be carrying health and safety risks, particularly since many come from toxic materials.

…Tran said the level of toxicity "is pretty much unknown because of the lack of funding from the government and the lack of funding from the industry. I wish the government provided more funding for the universities and the industry to study thoroughly the side effects of nanomaterials," he said.

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Nanotechnology will significantly change virtually every facet of the way we live. The next president has the opportunity to shape these changes and to ensure that nanotechnology's benefits will be maximized and its risks identified and controlled. A new report by former EPA official J. Clarence (Terry) Davies lays out a clear roadmap for the next presidential administration and describes the immediate and longer term steps necessary to deal with the current shortcomings of nanotechnology oversight.

"The future of the technology is in the hands of the incoming administration. The shape of the future will depend significantly on what the new government does," says Davies, whose report, Nanotechnology Oversight: An Agenda for the New Administration, was released today.

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July 22, 2008 -- The market for nanotechnology-based products is expected to reach $3.1 trillion by 2015, up from $147 billion in 2007, according to a recent report by technology advisory firm Lux Research. The forecast is based on data from more than 1,000 primary interviews Lux Research analysts conduct with technology developers annually, as well as a new survey of 31 top corporations active in nanotechnology.

Through 2015 the materials and manufacturing sector will remain the top field for nanotechnology applications, growing at 45% to reach $1.8 trillion worth of product revenue. The electronics sector will gain ground through 2015, growing at a 51% compound annual growth rate to reach $940 billion, while healthcare and life sciences will grow at 46% annually to reach $31 billion.

The United States leads the way with $59 billion worth of nanotech-based products produced in 2007. Europe followed at $47 billion; Asia/Pacific accounts for $31 billion, and the rest of the world accounted for $9.4 billion. However, Europe is expected to edge the United States in nanotech revenue with $1.09 trillion worth of products generated by 2015, compared with $1.08 trillion in the U.S. over the same period. Asia will remain in third place at $717 billion.

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As the presidential election season heats up, public policy advocates and business groups are calling for greater oversight and more funding for the budding nanotechnology industry.

A report due Wednesday from the nonpartisan Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars contends that the White House should direct federal agencies to apply existing laws more effectively and strengthen nanotech oversight.

…He says clearer oversight would not only help to protect health and the environment, but also drive more nanotech investment.

"Right now, there's no special legislation or regulatory program dealing with nanotech," Davies said in an interview. "That's something we've got to pay attention to."

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While existing EU legislation provides a starting point for addressing public health and environmental concerns about nanotechnologies, the commission cites a need for more research and international cooperation in the field. With the proper regulatory structures in place, nanotechnologies could "usher in a new age of customized pharmaceuticals and medical procedures," the commission says in a statement.

The consultation is intended to raise awareness about the potential benefits of nanotechnologies while ensuring the public and environment are protected from adverse effects that may arise from exposure to nanotech products.

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…These findings may be relevant to various policy sectors concerned with the emerging area of nanotechnology, water pollution and ecosystem health. The authors said that while their results suggest that quantum dots may not pose a significant risk of accumulating in aquatic invertebrate food chains, additional research beyond simple laboratory experiments and a more exact means of quantifying transferred nanoparticles in environmental systems are needed to be sure. Another factor in the natural environment will be how other organic particles interact with the nanoparticles.

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…So as new nanomaterials move from the lab to the marketplace, have we learnt the lessons of past technologies, or are we destined to repeat the mistakes made with previous technologies? In 2001 an expert panel commissioned by the European Environment Agency (EEA) published a report, Late Lessons from Early Warnings: The Precautionary Principle 1896–2000, which explored 14 case studies, all of which demonstrated how not heeding early warnings had led to a failure to protect human health and the environment.

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Michael Siegrist, Professor at the Institute for Environmental Decisions at ETH Zurich, set about probing this issue. In a representative study, he and his research team asked 337 randomly selected people from all over Switzerland about their risk perception for various kinds of food and packaging that benefit from the functions of the nanoparticles. “In the meantime, research and industry know a whole range of potential nanotech uses for food. However, still only very little is known about the risks of the technology and how the consumers perceive them”, explains Siegrist. By publishing the results of the study in the journal “Appetite”, however, he has bridged a gap in the knowledge of how well nanotechnology is accepted in the food sector.

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…When it comes to nanotechnology, Russia and the U.S. are eager to work together.

Delegates from Russia’s State Nanotechnology Corporation visited the American labs.

”The U.S. is the world leader in nanotechnology. It was the first developed country to provide significant sums of money from the country’s budget into the sphere. We’re interested in looking into their practices and becoming partners, so that Russia could also develop in this area,” says Leonid Melamed, Rosnanotech CEO.

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Nanotechnology-based medical devices and drug carriers are emerging as alternatives to conventional small-molecule drugs, and in vitro evaluation of their biocompatibility with blood components is a necessary part of early preclinical development. Many research papers have reported nanoparticle hemolytic properties but, so far, no in vitro hemolysis protocol has been available that is specific to nanoparticles.

A new study published this month describes in vitro assays to study nanoparticle hemolytic properties, identifies nanoparticle interferences with these in vitro tests and provides the first comprehensive insight to potential sources of this interference, demonstrates the usefulness of including nanoparticle-only controls, and illustrates the importance of physicochemical characterization of nanoparticle formulations and visually monitoring test samples to avoid false-positive or false-negative results.

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In the study, researchers, Dr. Michael D. Cobb, assistant professor of political science, and Dr. Patrick Hamlett, associate professor of science, technology and society and political science, gave questionnaires to participants to determine their position on emerging technologies with human enhancement applications - such as using nanotechnology to improve therapies for injuries and degenerative diseases.

…The participants were then put through a deliberative forum in March 2008 that provided structured discussions and educational background on the technologies. Later they were asked to fill out the same questionnaire they had been given before the deliberative forum and asked to provide policy recommendations on how to handle the emerging science.

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Though the Nature study points out risks in the fledging nanotech industry, co-author Andrew Maynard says results like the one in his study are good news, if only because they show that carbon nanotubes can be made safe through more research and better regulations. “There’s already a debate occurring about the potential safety issues of nanotech and how to get around them,” says Maynard. "That's a good thing because it's something that hasn't always happened with previous technologies.”

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"We have initiated a number of measures to accelerate the growth of the nanotechnology sector on the lines of IT and BT sectors. Efforts are on to replicate the success in IT and BT sectors in terms of innovation, investment and job creation," Karnataka secretary for IT, BT and science and technology Ashok Kumar C. Manoli said late Wednesday.

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