see here
see here
In the Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society I have 10 contributions: Zinc Oxide (ZnO); Nanoparticle Occupational Safety and Health Consortium; Nano Hazard Symbol Contest; Ableism; Cancer treatment Nano-enabled; Design and Construction; Disability and Nanoscience; Nano-photovoltaic; Access; International Risk Governance Council (IRGC) ;
SAGE Reference’s pioneering new, two-volume Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society is the first available reference work to cover the ethical, legal, policy, social, cultural, economic, and business issues raised by the science and technology. Highly accessible, expertly written A-to-Z entries describe nanoscience’s technical achievements, history, and prospects.
link here
Title: Nanoscale science and technology and social cohesion
Author: Gregor Wolbring Email author(s)
Address: Faculty of Medicine, Department of Community Health Science, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, T2N 4N1, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Journal: International Journal of Nanotechnology 2010 – Vol. 7, No.2/3 pp. 155 – 172
Abstract: Nanoscale sciences and technologies are developing at a rapid pace enabling other science and technology fields and generating new products and processes. Nanoscale and other science and technology products and processes can impact positively or negatively various aspects of social cohesion such as belonging, shared values, identity, feelings of commitment, equal opportunities, participation in society and social life and the respect and tolerance for diversity directly or through impacting other parameters such as food, health and economic security. One area hardly covered yet is the impact of ableism and its transhumanised form on different areas of social cohesion and the role of nanoscale and other sciences and technologies. The coverage of social cohesion within nanoscale science and technology discourses and vice versa and the linkage to ableism is one aspects of this paper. The paper suggests a way forward for the nanoscale, the ableism and the social cohesion discourses.
Keywords: nanotechnology; nanoscale; science and technology; social cohesion; human security; social well-being; ableism; human enhancement; ability studies; disability; transhumanisation; nanoscience.
Scientists are to investigate whether human-engineered nanoparticles which are found in sunscreen have any links with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Scientific Hearing on Risk Assessment of Nanotechnologies, Brussels, 10 September 2009
Toxicological Sciences 2009 109(1):113-123; doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfp057
Unni C. Nygaard*,1, Jitka S. Hansen*,, Mari Samuelsen*, Torunn Alberg*, Calin D. Marioara and Martinus Løvik*, * Division of Environmental Medicine, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, NO-0403 Oslo, Norway National Research Centre for the Workinga Environment, DK-2100, Copenhagen, Denmark SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, NO-7465, Trondheim, Norway Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7489, Trondheim, Norway 1 To whom correspondence should be addressed at Division of Environmental Medicine, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box
4404 Nydalen, Lovisenbergata 8, NO-0403 Oslo, Norway. Fax: +47 2107 6686. E-mail:unni.cecilie.nygaard@fhi.no.
Received December 22, 2008; accepted March 4, 2009
New in the Int J of Disability, Community and Rehabilitation (IJDCR)
An IJDCR Special Issue on Nanotechnology, Disability, Community and Rehabilitation edited by Gregor Wolbring,
Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies Program, Dept of Community
Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Canada
Articles:
Editor’s Introduction to the Special Issue, by Gregor Wolbring
If Nanotechnology Were a Magic Wand What Obligations Would it Bring? Or:
The Right to Enhance Versus the Right to Morphological Freedom, by Heather
Bradshaw
Optimization of Human Capacities and the Representation of the Nanoscale
Body, by Michele Robitaille
Nanotechnology: Changing the Disability Paradigm, by Laura Cabrera
The journal welcomes submissions on a continuous basis that focus on nanoscale and nanoscale-enabled science and technology as it impacts on disabled people and the broader community and the role of rehabilitation professionals, family members and others.
Canadian Standards Association would like to inform you that we are establishing a new Nanotechnology in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Technical Committee for the adoption/adaptation of international ISO/IEC nanotechnology standards into National Standards of Canada. We have attached the Call for Participants which will provide you with information about this project. If you or a member of your organization is interested in applying to be a member of this new Technical Committee, please submit your application to the Project Manager Ron Meyers at: ron.meyers@csa.ca.
Please feel free to pass this message along to your colleagues who may be interested in this standards activity. The deadline for submitting applications is March 31st, 2009. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Davorah Katz
Project Assistant
Occupational Health and Safety/Mechanical Industrial Equipment Safety
Canadian Standards Association
5060 Spectrum Way, Suite 100
Mississauga, ON L4W 5N6
Email: Davorah.Katz@csa.ca
Researchers study the feasibility of brains made from carbon nanotubes
more here
On September 24, 2008, the U.S. insurance company Continental Western Group (CWG) issued a statement noting that it would exclude nanotubes and nanotechnology from its coverage.
more here
(Washington, DC, January 15, 2009) – Today, the House Science and
Technology Committee introduced H.R. 554, National Nanotechnology
Initiative Amendments Act of 2009
. Identical to H.R. 5940
, which passed
the 110th Congress
by 407 to
6, H.R. 554 will strengthen and provide transparency to the federal
research effort to understand the potential environmental, health, and
safety risks of nanotechnology. It requires the agencies participating
in the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) to develop a plan for
the environmental and safety research, and a roadmap for implementing
it, which includes explicit near-term and long-term goals and the
funding required, by goal and by agency. The bill also seeks to leverage
private sector investments in nanotechnology and facilitate technology
transfer by strengthening public/private partnerships.
“The range of potential applications of nanotechnology is broad-from
solar cells to sunscreen, from electronics to energy transformation and
storage, to medicine and health,” stated Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN).
“It is important that potential downsides of the technology be addressed
from the beginning in a straightforward and open way, both to protect
the public health and to allay any concerns about the validity of the
results. A thorough, transparent process that ensures the safety of new
products will allow both the business community and the public to
benefit from the development of these new technologies.”
The NNI is multi-agency federal research program established in 2003
though the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of
2003 (P.L.
108-153). It addresses all aspects of nanotechnology, including
environmental, health and safety (EHS) research. A December 2008
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report concluded that the NNI still
lacks an adequate strategic plan and planning process for EHS research.
Over the past several years the House Science and Technology Committee
has carried out numerous oversight activities to encourage the
development and implementation of such a plan, with limited success.
H.R. 554 addresses the key recommendations in the NAS report. In
addition, the legislation requires that responsibility for overseeing
the development and implementation of an EHS research plan be assigned
to a single senior official at the Office of Science and Technology
Policy.
The legislation originally developed from the recommendations from other
formal reviews of NNI by the National Academy of Sciences and the
advisory panel of NNI.
Please see the Committee’s website
for more information on the
Committee’s work on Nanotechnology in the 110th Congress, including
hearings
and markups
.
Bill Introduced to Ensure Safety of Nanotechnology, Transparency of
Research
(Washington, DC, January 15, 2009) – Today, the House Science and
Technology Committee introduced H.R. 554, National Nanotechnology
Initiative Amendments Act of 2009
. Identical to H.R. 5940
, which passed
the 110th Congress
by 407 to
6, H.R. 554 will strengthen and provide transparency to the federal
research effort to understand the potential environmental, health, and
safety risks of nanotechnology. It requires the agencies participating
in the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) to develop a plan for
the environmental and safety research, and a roadmap for implementing
it, which includes explicit near-term and long-term goals and the
funding required, by goal and by agency. The bill also seeks to leverage
private sector investments in nanotechnology and facilitate technology
transfer by strengthening public/private partnerships.
“The range of potential applications of nanotechnology is broad-from
solar cells to sunscreen, from electronics to energy transformation and
storage, to medicine and health,” stated Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN).
“It is important that potential downsides of the technology be addressed
from the beginning in a straightforward and open way, both to protect
the public health and to allay any concerns about the validity of the
results. A thorough, transparent process that ensures the safety of new
products will allow both the business community and the public to
benefit from the development of these new technologies.”
The NNI is multi-agency federal research program established in 2003
though the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of
2003 (P.L.
108-153). It addresses all aspects of nanotechnology, including
environmental, health and safety (EHS) research. A December 2008
National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report concluded that the NNI still
lacks an adequate strategic plan and planning process for EHS research.
Over the past several years the House Science and Technology Committee
has carried out numerous oversight activities to encourage the
development and implementation of such a plan, with limited success.
H.R. 554 addresses the key recommendations in the NAS report. In
addition, the legislation requires that responsibility for overseeing
the development and implementation of an EHS research plan be assigned
to a single senior official at the Office of Science and Technology
Policy.
The legislation originally developed from the recommendations from other
formal reviews of NNI by the National Academy of Sciences and the
advisory panel of NNI.
Please see the Committee’s website
for more information on the
Committee’s work on Nanotechnology in the 110th Congress, including
hearings
and markups
.