Nanotechnology: Regulation and Public Discourse

✍ Scribed by Iris Eisenberger, Angela Kallhoff, Claudia Schwarz-Plaschg

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2019
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 309
• Series: Philosophy, Technology and Society
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Over the last decades, nanoscience and nanotechnology has been ascribed the potential to contribute beneficial applications in fields such as medicine, cosmetics, or environmental remediation. At the same time it is still contested whether engineered nanomaterials might be not one-sidedly “good” but may also entail negative side-effects for human health and the environment. To address this uncertainty, academic and political initiatives have sought to establish norms and practices to assess and govern nanomaterials.

Rooted in different disciplines such as ethics, ecology, law, social and political sciences, the chapters in this edited volume explore the normative approaches, societal practices, and legal mechanisms which have emerged in the nano-field over the last two decades. The chapters also present a broad variety of evaluative approaches that may assist societal actors in their attempts to actively shape and contribute to the debate about nanomaterials.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Nanotechnology
Series Page
Nanotechnology: Regulation and Public Discourse
Copyright Page
Contents
List of Figures, Tables, and Boxes
Preface
Chapter 1
Rethinking Ethical, Legal and Societal Frameworks for Assessing and Governing Nanomaterials
1. Toward Defining Nanomaterials
2. Regulatory Instruments: Between Legal and Market Regulation
3. Integrating Societal Perspectives and Self-Reflection of ELSA Researchers
4. An Ethical Framework for Assessing Production and Release of Nanomaterials
5. Content of This Volume
Notes
Part I: Evaluation and Standardisation
Chapter 2
Ecocentric Evaluation of Nano-Release
1. INTRODUCTION
2. Ethics at the Interface of Nano and Nature
3. Risk Assessment
4. An Integrated Normative Model
5. Eco-Centric Evaluation of Future Scenarios
6. Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 3
Standardising Responsibility?
1. INTRODUCTION
2. Responsible Innovation
3. Responsible Innovation and Nanoscale Sciences and Technologies
4. International Standards
5. Standards and Responsible Research and Innovation: Products and Process
6. Responsibility and Legitimacy in the Process of Standardisation
7. The Need for Addressing the Distributed, Socio-Technical Character of Innovation
8. Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 4
Standardisation and Patenting in Nanotechnology
1. STANDARDS AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
2. Patents and Nanotechnology
3. Bottlenecks and Overprotection
4. Overprotection and Remedies in Nanotechnology
5. Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 5
Standardisation
1. Standardisation to Support Innovation
2. ISO/TC 229 Nanotechnologies
3. Mitigating Risks
4. Conclusion
Note
Part II: Norms and Regulation
Chapter 6
Science, Democracy, Industry
1. INTRODUCTION
2. Who Regulates Nanomaterials? Putting the Regulatory Question into Context
3. Insurance and Reinsurance
4. Industry
5. Government and Regulatory Agencies
6. Market
7. What the Future May Hold
Notes
Chapter 7
Pros and Cons of Nano-Regulation and Ways toward a Sustainable Use
1. How Much “Nano” Do We Need?
2. Synopsis: Pressure Groups and Future Perspectives
Acknowledgments
Note
Chapter 8
Nanotechnology and Fundamental Rights
1. INTRODUCTION
2. Dual-Use (Nano) Research between Rights to Non-Interference and Obligations to Protect
3. Regulatory Options for Dual-Use (Nano) Research
4. Safer by Design as a Regulatory Solution between Law and Science?
5. Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 9
Monitoring the Value of Responsible Research and Innovation in Industrial Nanotechnology Innovation Projects
1. INTRODUCTION
2. The Responsible Research and Innovation Monitoring Tool
3. Results from Industrial Cases in the Nanotechnology Field
4. Conclusion
Notes
Part III: Politics and Publics
Chapter 10
The Politics and Public Imagination of Nano-Labelling in Europe
1. INTRODUCTION
2. What Is (In) a Label?
3. The Politics of Nano-Labelling in Europe
4. Empirical Material and Methodological Approach
5. Labelling to Enable Governance via Consumption
6. (De)constructing GMO-Analogous Nano-Labelling Scenarios
7. Marketing Nanofood Like Light Products and Probiotics
8. Countering Acceptance Scenarios
9. The Nano-Labelling Dilemma
10. Seals of Quality and Clear-Cut Futures Solve the Dilemma
11. Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 11
Emerging Technologies and the Problem of Representation
1. John Dewey
2. Dewey for the Twenty-First Century
3. Joint Inquiry Processes between DuPont and EDF
4. Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 12
Nanotechnology
1. INTRODUCTION
2. Public Deliberation and Its International Career
3. The Transnational Discourse about Nanotechnology
4. Conclusion
Notes
References
Index
About the Contributors