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Nanotechnology is a new and emerging discipline that is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. The usage of nanosystems, nanomaterials, nano-devices, etc. permeates all aspects of society. Cancer targeting and curing nanosystems are being introduced into the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries; so are lightweight energy absorbing or blast-proof nanohybrid material in the aerospace, automotive and marine industries and high-efficiency energy harvesting nanomaterials, etc. Society has a vested interest in knowing how these new materials, devices and systems are changing the economy and similar landscapes. The book outlines the regulatory and environmental issues related to nanotechnology per industry, offers guidelines in assessing the risks and discusses the legal and socioeconomical issues involved. Case studies will be utilized to provide examples of the positive and negative impacts of nanotechnology. Provides an overview and the basis for understanding the critical importance of the reactivity and efficacy of nanomaterials and the emerging role of nanotechnology in society Explains the fundamentals, ethics, regulatory and environmental issues of nanosafety and how they shape the emerging nanotechnology industry and markets and includes extensive lists of glossary terms, terminologies and concepts needed for Material Data Safety Sheets Discusses the relevance and specificity of nanosafety issues per industry and includes discussions on the "Homeland Security and Infrastructure Industries" of interest to society in general Includes nanotechnology risk assessment and delineates and quantifies the risk assessment process for nanotechnology safety of paramount importance to most industries and systems Outlines the legal and intellectual property ramifications of nanotechnology and its impact on productivity and society.

Patents -- Copyrights -- Integrated circuit topographies -- Trade secrets -- Ownership of nanotech intellectual property -- Delegation of power to agencies -- Examples of regulation of nanotechnology -- Political and judicial control over agency action -- Civil liability -- Criminal liability

Current discourses in science, technology and innovation policy describe a shift from formal, governmental, or statutory regulation to non-hierarchical, informal, and cooperative self-regulatory approaches. They narrate a turn from government to governance, described as a "governance turn." Governance as a new and popular mode of regulation, deliberation and shared responsibility is often linked to favored attributes of science and technology development, and policy making such as democracy and responsibility. This article analyzes the connection between governance and ideas of accountable and democratic science and technology development in the case of nanosciences and nanotechnologies. For this purpose, soft law measures, self-regulatory initiatives, and public engagement projects in Europe and the U.S. were analyzed using the concept of social robustness (Nowotny et al. 2001). The study showed that most of the analyzed governance approaches and engagement projects only partially met aspects of social robustness, and that the governance and deliberative turn in science and technology policy has not led, so far, to greater democracy and responsibility in nanoscience and nanotechnology development. As a consequence, the delegation of techno-political decision making to less socially robust governance approaches might lead to a vacuum in science and technology policy and affect not only academic knowledge production but also the innovative force of a society.

Bhupinder S SekhonInstitute of Pharmacy and Department of Biotechnology, Punjab College of Technical Education, Jhande, Ludhiana, IndiaAbstract: Food nanotechnology is an area of emerging interest and opens up a whole universe of new possibilities for the food industry. The basic categories of nanotechnology applications and functionalities currently in the development of food packaging include: the improvement of plastic materials barriers, the incorporation of active components that can deliver functional attributes beyond those of conventional active packaging, and the sensing and signaling of relevant information. Nano food packaging materials may extend food life, improve food safety, alert consumers that food is contaminated or spoiled, repair tears in packaging, and even release preservatives to extend the life of the food in the package. Nanotechnology applications in the food industry can be utilized to detect bacteria in packaging, or produce stronger flavors and color quality, and safety by increasing the barrier properties. Nanotechnology holds great promise to provide benefits not just within food products but also around food products. In fact, nanotechnology introduces new chances for innovation in the food industry at immense speed, but uncertainty and health concerns are also emerging. EU/WE/global legislation for the regulation of nanotechnology in food are meager. Moreover, current legislation appears unsuitable to nanotechnology specificity.Keywords: nanotechnology, nanofood, food packaging, nanoparticles, nanoencapsulation

Nanotechnology is the new cyber, according to several major leaders in this field. Just as cyber is entrenched across global society now, nano is poised to be major capabilities enabler of the next decades. Expert members from the National Nanotechnology Initiative (in U.S.) representing government and science disciplines say nano has great significance for the military and the general public. It is predicted that after next 15 years nanotechnology will replace information technology as the most economic technology platform. Nanotechnology has even wider applications than information technology.

"Foreword Vijoleta Braach-Maksvytis When Donnie Maclurcan approached me in 2004 to help guide some of his groundbreaking PhD research on the societal implications of nanotechnology, I was delighted to discover a like-minded colleague who shared such a consideration. As his PhD conclusions sharpened, Donnie was already beginning to collate the work of others into a volume that would take his dissertation findings about nanotechnology and global inequity one step further. With a steadfastness of vision, unswerving integrity, and belief in the better characteristics of us as global peoples, this book was created. Yet this work has much deeper foundations. In the late 1950s, the field of nanotechnology was foreshowed with Nobel Laureate physicist Richard Feynman's dream of taking advantage of a "new world" available at the nanoscale--the level of atoms and small molecules. What is it about nanoscience that has created so much attention? It has opened a world of new materials and properties simply by the reduced dimensions of familiar materials on the nanoscale. This is because of three main characteristics: The nanoscale is the scale of nature's building blocks, such as DNA and proteins; at this scale, materials have more surface than volume, increasing the importance of surface-interaction properties; and, at nanoscale, the effects of quantum physics begin to dominate over classical physics. Take, for example, the simple interaction of light with gold metal. Light on a golden wedding ring tells us that gold is gold colored. Light interacting with a 20 nanometer-sized nanoparticle of gold tells us that gold has a deep red color--not a trace of gold in sight! It was not until the early 1990s that Feynman's dream became a frontier science and, even then,"--

This book disentangles the complex meanings of responsibility in nanotechnology development by focusing on its theoretical and empirical dimensions. The notion of responsibility is extremely diversified in the public discourse of nanoscale technologies. Addressed are major disciplinary perspectives working on nanotechnology, e.g. philosophy, sociology, and political science, as well as the major multidisciplinary areas relevant to the innovation process, e.g. technology assessment and ethics. Furthermore, the interplay between such expertises, disciplines, and research programmes in providing a multidisciplinary understanding of responsibility is emphasized

27 pages, 10 figures, 26 references ; International audience ; Nanomedicine is a relatively new field of science and technology. It looks sometimes ill defined and interpretations of that term may vary, especially between Europe and the United States. By interacting with biological molecules, therefore at nanoscale, nanotechnology opens up a vast field of research and application. Interactions between artificial molecular assemblies or nanodevices and biomolecules can be understood both in the extracellular medium and inside the human cells. Operating at nanoscale allow to exploit physical properties different from those observed at microscale such as the volume/surface ratio. The investigated diagnostic applications can be considered for in vitro as well as for in vivo diagnosis. In vitro, the synthesized particles and manipulation or detection devices allow for the recognition, capture, and concentration of biomolecules. In vivo, the synthetic molecular assemblies are mainly designed as a contrast agent for imaging. A second area exhibiting a strong development is the "nanodrugs" where nanoparticles are designed for targeted drug delivery. The use of such carriers improves the drug biodistribution, targeting active molecules to diseased tissues while protecting healthy tissue. A third area of application is regenerative medicine where nanotechnology allows developing biocompatible materials which support growth of cells used in cell therapy. The application of nanotechnology to medicine raises new issues because of new uses they allow, for instance: Is the power of these new diagnostics manageable by the medical profession? What means treating a patient without any clinical signs? Nanomedicine can contribute to the development of a personalized medicine both for diagnosis and therapy. There exists in many countries existing regulatory frameworks addressing the basic rules of safety and effectiveness of nanotechnology based medicine, whether molecular assemblies or medical devices. But there is a need to clarify or to modify these regulations which mobilize many experts. France is a country where the medical development of nanotechnology is significant, like Germany, the United Kingdom or Spain, as regards the European Union. There is an active scientific community and industrial partners of all sizes, even if the technology transfer to industry is not as effective as in North America.