Date published: 2008/11/05
The BBC says:
Cosmetics containing tiny "nano" particles are being used widely despite unresolved issues surrounding their safety, a consumer watchdog warns.
Many skin care products, including sunscreens and wrinkle creams, contain this technology to make them easier to apply and invisible on the skin.
But experts are concerned about their possible long-term effects on the body, Which? reports.
Which? wants more safety checks and tighter regulation of their use.
It says, at the moment, consumers cannot tell which products use nanomaterials as many fail to mention it.
...
The Which? report says all nanocosmetic products should have an independent safety assessment.The precautionary principle should be applied to products where there are potential risks but where it is not currently possible to assess their safety so that consumers are not put at risk, it says.
...
Professor Dame Ann Dowling, chairman of the Royal Society working group on nanotechnologies, said: "The Royal Society has been calling, for the last four years, for companies to make public the safety testing methods they have been using on their nanoproducts. We are disappointed at continuing lack of transparency in this area."More research does need to be done on the effects of manufactured nanoparticles on human health and the environment. This is important so that regulation can be built on a proper understanding of any risks."
Which? is an organisation run by and for the academic middle class, and as such reflects the usual academic middle class hatred of any technology that is not very, very old. (So they are just about reconciled with trains, but not yet with cars or planes.) The fact that they are willing to quote the "precautionary principle" shows they have no real argument to make, but just want to make the world stand still. If these companies are not following current legislation then they should be charged. If they are then the academic middle class should try and change the legislation if they think it's currently not good enough. Pretty much all new products released onto the world should have some kind of safety assessment. But it should be commensurate with the risk, and not overly egged on because of some academic middle class paranoia about the risk. These products are just as likely to have problems for non-nano, as for nano, reasons.
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