Strasbourg, 30/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - From bicycle tyres to refrigerator linings, consumer products produced from nanotechnology are here to stay! The Swiss chain of shops, Migros, even distributes, free of charge, NANO MANIA toys that are the subject of a lucrative online trade, says the specialist, Ilise L. Feitshans, in the report forwarded to the Council of Europe in January this year. The text of the report, relating to “nanotechnologies: weighing up the risks and benefits for public health and the environment”, has served as a basis for a report by Russian Socialist Valeriy Sudarenkov, adopted on 26 April this year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), together with a recommendation.
Echoing the weighing up of the risks and benefits announced by Ilise L. Feitshans, the recommendation calls for the development of legal norms relating to nanotechnologies without, however, putting a brake on its potentially advantageous use. Both texts, which could hardly be described as “serene”, refuse, however, to be alarmist given the huge benefits inherent to the use of nanoparticles given their infinitesimal size.
In this new technology, matter is studied and manipulated at atomic, molecular and macromolecular scale. The use of the prefix “nano” in this context refers to the unit that represents one billionth of a metre, the nanometre (nm). To give an example - a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometres thick while an atom of gold has a diameter of around one third of a nanometre. This nanometric scale represents a whole new world where materials take on uncustomary physical, chemical and biological properties allowing nanoparticles of rust, for example, to extract arsenic from drinking water. No-one, however, knows exactly today whether nanoparticles carry any risks for public health and the environment.
As Ilise L. Feitshans states, the advantages of nanotechnology is well established - such as protection of the right to drinking water, decontamination of polluted sites, alternative fuels, improved healthcare, alleviation of the economic crisis through the development of related sectors, etc. Nonetheless, the risks associated with the current commercial and industrial uses of nanotechnologies remain unknown and have not been quantified. No-one knows how nanoparticles interact between one another or with biological systems. They possess the remarkable characteristic of crossing the semi-permeable membrane of cells for applications in nanomedicine but could very well also have adverse effects impossible to contain, the expert states. Feitshans underlines, moreover, all the gaps in current knowledge regarding the future of such substances in the environment. She cites several worrying studies concerning the impact observed on fish and crustaceans, for example.
As things stand, it is impossible to draw conclusions allowing regulatory activity to be steered by reliable data, Feitshans concludes, calling on the Council of Europe to take a stance as the only pan-European organisation whose mandate encompasses the protection of human rights.
This, therefore, was done last week when PACE adopted the recommendation. In the text, the Assembly calls on the committee of ministers to develop guidelines in compliance with the precautionary principle but taking into account the freedom of research and encouraging innovation. Rules that should be harmonised on the basis of transparent negotiations between national governments, international organisations, civil society, experts and scientists as well as the Council of Europe. The work to be done is considerable, therefore, and PACE recommends participation by the committee on bioethics (DH-BIO) of the Council of Europe. (VL/transl.jl)