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Nanotechnology

Assessing safety

Alongside their clear benefits, nanotechnologies may also pose specific risks that must be addressed.

The challenge for the EU is to assess these potential risks, implement appropriate regulation and communicate how these risks are and must be addressed to the public and stakeholders alike.

Risk assessment

Technological innovations must be proven safe to be accepted by consumers. EU legislation seeks to ensure a high level of protection for public health and safety for consumers, workers and the environment.

The European Commission's work on risk assessment for nanotechnologies serves to:

  • review risk-assessment methodologies and develop risk assessment approaches
  • set priorities for related EU research funding
  • support the EU regulatory framework and related policy initiatives
  • feed knowledge into the work of European and international bodies such as CEN, the OECD, ISO, etc.
  • inform and stimulate the dialogue between the Commission and stakeholders, citizens and international authorities.

 

More on EU risk assessment

Scientific opinions (SCENIHR, SCCS, EFSA)

Risk assessment and dialogue at EU level Choose translations of the previous link български (bg) čeština (cs) dansk (da) Deutsch (de) eesti keel (et) ελληνικά (el) español (es) français (fr) italiano (it) latviešu valoda (lv) lietuvių kalba (lt) magyar (hu) Malti (mt) Nederlands (nl) polski (pl) português (pt) română (ro) slovenčina (sk) slovenščina (sl) suomi (fi) svenska (sv)

Global risk assessment dialogue Choose translations of the previous link български (bg) čeština (cs) dansk (da) Deutsch (de) eesti keel (et) ελληνικά (el) español (es) français (fr) italiano (it) latviešu valoda (lv) lietuvių kalba (lt) magyar (hu) Malti (mt) Nederlands (nl) polski (pl) português (pt) română (ro) slovenčina (sk) slovenščina (sl) suomi (fi) svenska (sv)

Nanotechnologies – a preliminary risk analysispdf(4 MB) (2004)