Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Public Perceptions of Nanotechnology Risks
- Part III Meeting the Nanotechnology Challenge by Creating New Legal Institutions
- 5 Toward Risk-Based, Adaptive Regulatory Definitions
- 6 The Missing Market Instrument
- 7 Conditional Liability Relief as an Incentive for Precautionary Study
- 8 Transnational New Governance and the International Coordination of Nanotechnology Oversight
- 9 Labeling the Little Things
- 10 Public Nuisance
- 11 Enlarging the Regulation of Shrinking Cosmetics and Sunscreens
- 12 Accelerating Regulatory Review
- 13 The Ethical Issues in Nanotechnology
- Part IV Where We Are Now – The Current Framework for Nanotechnology Regulation
- Index
- References
9 - Labeling the Little Things
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Public Perceptions of Nanotechnology Risks
- Part III Meeting the Nanotechnology Challenge by Creating New Legal Institutions
- 5 Toward Risk-Based, Adaptive Regulatory Definitions
- 6 The Missing Market Instrument
- 7 Conditional Liability Relief as an Incentive for Precautionary Study
- 8 Transnational New Governance and the International Coordination of Nanotechnology Oversight
- 9 Labeling the Little Things
- 10 Public Nuisance
- 11 Enlarging the Regulation of Shrinking Cosmetics and Sunscreens
- 12 Accelerating Regulatory Review
- 13 The Ethical Issues in Nanotechnology
- Part IV Where We Are Now – The Current Framework for Nanotechnology Regulation
- Index
- References
Summary
The nanotechnology revolution is already underway. More than 1,000 consumer products sold in the United States use nanotechnology or contain nanoscale particles. These products range from computer chips and stain-resistant pants to window coatings and sunscreens. By 2007, the global market for nanotech goods was almost $150 billion, up from an estimated $30 billion in 2005. By 2015, the global market for nanotech products is likely to be in the trillions.
Some manufacturers have been happy to disclose their use of nanotechnology or have signed on to voluntary labeling guidelines. Others have adopted nanotech techniques or incorporated nanoscale particles into their products without any meaningful public disclosure. Relatively few products containing nanomaterials reveal this fact on the product label. In some cases, manufacturers’ own public relations officials are unaware of whether their products include nanoscale materials.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Nanotechnology ChallengeCreating Legal Institutions for Uncertain Risks, pp. 203 - 224Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011