“The Train Has Left the Station”: The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies and the Shaping of Nanotechnology Policy in the <scp>U</scp>nited <scp>S</scp>tates

Michelson, Evan S.

doi:10.1111/ropr.12034

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The CPI is a useful interactive database for educating consumers and legislators on the real-world applications of nanotechnology. Michaelson stated that the CPI transformed “the face of nanotechnology away from innovations in the realm of science fiction to the iconic images of everyday consumer products” [ 2 ]. The academic community can continue to make use of this inventory to help prioritize, for example, which types of products or nanomaterial components to evaluate in human exposure or toxicity studies, life cycle assessments, and nanomaterial release studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2010, the CPI listed 1012 products from 409 companies in 24 countries. Even though it did not go through substantial updates in the period between 2010 and 2013, it continued being heavily cited in government reports [ 2 ] and the scientific literature – the website http://www.nanotechproject.org has been cited over 2,580 times in articles according to Google Scholar – and became a popular indicator of the prevalence of nanotechnology in everyday life and the need to further study its potential social, economical, and environmental impacts [ 3 – 6 ]. The CPI has also been criticized due to its lack of science-based data to support manufacturer claims.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The website associated with this database was not accessible at the time of this writing and its last available record is from May 2014, when 586 products were listed. In 2007, Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology created an inventory of “nanotechnology-claimed consumer products” available in Japan [ 2 ]. This inventory is freely accessible online and it acknowledges the CPI in its website.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nanotechnology in the real world: Redeveloping the nanomaterial consumer products inventory

Vance¹,

Kuiken²,

Vejerano³

et al. 2015

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol.

1,597

798

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SummaryTo document the marketing and distribution of nano-enabled products into the commercial marketplace, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies created the Nanotechnology Consumer Products Inventory (CPI) in 2005. The objective of this present work is to redevelop the CPI by leading a research effort to increase the usefulness and reliability of this inventory. We created eight new descriptors for consumer products, including information pertaining to the nanomaterials contained in each product. The project was motivated by the recognition that a diverse group of stakeholders from academia, industry, and state/federal government had become highly dependent on the inventory as an important resource and bellweather of the pervasiveness of nanotechnology in society. We interviewed 68 nanotechnology experts to assess key information needs. Their answers guided inventory modifications by providing a clear conceptual framework best suited for user expectations. The revised inventory was released in October 2013. It currently lists 1814 consumer products from 622 companies in 32 countries. The Health and Fitness category contains the most products (762, or 42% of the total). Silver is the most frequently used nanomaterial (435 products, or 24%); however, 49% of the products (889) included in the CPI do not provide the composition of the nanomaterial used in them. About 29% of the CPI (528 products) contain nanomaterials suspended in a variety of liquid media and dermal contact is the most likely exposure scenario from their use. The majority (1288 products, or 71%) of the products do not present enough supporting information to corroborate the claim that nanomaterials are used. The modified CPI has enabled crowdsourcing capabilities, which allow users to suggest edits to any entry and permits researchers to upload new findings ranging from human and environmental exposure data to complete life cycle assessments. There are inherent limitations to this type of database, but these modifications to the inventory addressed the majority of criticisms raised in published literature and in surveys of nanotechnology stakeholders and experts. The development of standardized methods and metrics for nanomaterial characterization and labelling in consumer products can lead to greater understanding between the key stakeholders in nanotechnology, especially consumers, researchers, regulators, and industry.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Nanotechnology in the real world: Redeveloping the nanomaterial consumer products inventory

Vance¹,

Kuiken²,

Vejerano³

et al. 2015

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol.

1,597

798

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In 2010, the CPI listed 1012 products from 409 companies in 24 countries. Even though it did not go through substantial updates in the period between 2010 and 2013, it continued being heavily cited in government reports [2] and the scientific literature -the website http://www.nanotechproject.org has been cited over 2,580 times in articles according to Google Scholar -and became a popular indicator of the prevalence of nanotechnology in everyday life and the need to further study its potential social, economical, and environmental impacts [3][4][5][6]. The CPI has also been criticized due to its lack of science-based data to support manufacturer claims.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanotechnology in the real world: Redeveloping the nanomaterial consumer products inventory

Vance¹,

Kuiken²,

Vejerano³

et al. 2016

Nano Online

118

131

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To document the marketing and distribution of nano-enabled products into the commercial marketplace, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies created the Nanotechnology Consumer Products Inventory (CPI) in 2005. The objective of this present work is to redevelop the CPI by leading a research effort to increase the usefulness and reliability of this inventory. We created eight new descriptors for consumer products, including information pertaining to the nanomaterials contained in each product. The project was motivated by the recognition that a diverse group of stakeholders from academia, industry, and state/federal government had become highly dependent on the inventory as an important resource and bellweather of the pervasiveness of nanotechnology in society. We interviewed 68 nanotechnology experts to assess key information needs. Their answers guided inventory modifications by providing a clear conceptual framework best suited for user expectations. The revised inventory was released in October 2013. It currently lists 1814 consumer products from 622 companies in 32 countries. The Health and Fitness category contains the most products (762, or 42% of the total). Silver is the most frequently used nanomaterial (435 products, or 24%); however, 49% of the products (889) included in the CPI do not provide the composition of the nanomaterial used in them. About 29% of the CPI (528 products) contain nanomaterials suspended in a variety of liquid media and dermal contact is the most likely exposure scenario from their use. The majority (1288 products, or 71%) of the products do not present enough supporting information to corroborate the claim that nanomaterials are used. The modified CPI has

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“…Another group, the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC, worked in the vein of TA from 2005 onwards. Spanning the boundaries of government, academia, industry, and civil society, PEN performed several public-interest functions related to critically framing nanotechnology issues and introducing them to ever broader constituencies (Michelson, 2013). While the organization never aimed to be politically "neutral," PEN did not join environmentalist movements in their activism or lawsuits against the government.…”

Section: Ngo-led Technology Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Materials sovereignty: Pathways for shaping nanotechnology design

Kokai

Iles

2020

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

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People in contemporary industrial societies encounter countless novel materials that did not exist previously, many of which present risks to health and environment. In this article, we build on the concept of “materials sovereignty” as the right of people to use and be surrounded by environmentally benign, non-toxic, and renewing materials in their everyday lives. As a rights-based approach, materials sovereignty may help change the politics of governing materials. We suggest that social movements that explicitly base interventions into design on materials sovereignty may be better able to gain traction in changing industrial production. We consider the case of nanotechnology as a particularly challenging field for social movement intervention. We review several pathways that have been used by social movement organizations in attempts to influence the development of nanomaterials, but which have met with limited success. We more closely examine three participatory pathways through which social movements could intervene more directly into material design: participatory technology assessment, collaboration with industry, and co-design. We identify three key elements of materials sovereignty: participatory knowledge systems, which create multi-directional flows of knowledge and agency; the embedding of citizen voices into design processes; and building accountability systems. Of the pathways we examine here, co-design appears to be the most promising from a theoretical and ethical perspective, but there remain significant institutional and organizational challenges for bringing it into practice.

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“The Train Has Left the Station”: The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies and the Shaping of Nanotechnology Policy in the United States

Cited by 14 publications

References 33 publications

Nanotechnology in the real world: Redeveloping the nanomaterial consumer products inventory

Nanotechnology in the real world: Redeveloping the nanomaterial consumer products inventory

Nanotechnology in the real world: Redeveloping the nanomaterial consumer products inventory

Materials sovereignty: Pathways for shaping nanotechnology design

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