27 Jun 2022 Updates

Nano-safety through standards

Nanomaterials such as nanoplastics or nanosilver are used in many products. For years, tons of particles have spread in the environment. In a new ITA Dossier on Nano safety André Gazsó and his team explain why early risk assessment is crucial.

André Gazsó, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, has been analyzing the spread of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials since 2010. He believes there is still a need for a better clarification of their properties and a necessity for international standardization:

“Nanomaterials, like all new technical developments, are associated with great uncertainties in addition to their advantages. That is why we urgently need to create international standards in the field of nanotechnology to ensure more safety,” Gazsó emphasizes. A first step has been achieved: Austrian nano-researchers and scientists with an expertise in technology assessment now share the room when health and environmental effects of nanomaterials are discussed in international standards committees.

In the recently published ITA dossier “NanoStandards”, Gazsó and his colleagues Gloria Rose and Anna Pavlicek describe the dangers and risks of nanomaterials and give recommendations for policy-makers and the Austrian nano-research landscape.

 

© ITA

Contact

Anna PAVLICEK
Institute of Technology Assessment
Austrian Academy of Sciences
anna.pavlicek@oeaw.ac.at
www.oeaw.ac.at/ita