Benefit/risk analysis
News
+ Info sheets
Agenda
Benefit/risk analyses of products containing nanos
By the AVICENN team – Last modification in April 2022
The benefit/risk analysis of products containing nanos must cover the whole life cycle of the products and integrate the impacts for all involved… especially the most vulnerable.
It is not only the health and environmental risks associated with nanomaterials that need to be carefully assessed.
The benefits of nanos also need to be seriously examined and evaluated.
For each type of product, the following questions arise:
- What needs are nanomaterials supposed to meet?
- What functions do they perform? Are they essential? Useful or futile? Who benefits (manufacturers / distributors / users)?
- What evidence is there of the benefits described? Are they provided in understandable language? On a sales pitch or on a safety data sheet?
- Do these pieces of information describe noticeable, perceptible and important benefits to you?
- How are decisions made: who decides what, at what point in the innovation life cycle? Which stakeholders are impacted at each stage of the innovation life cycle? Have they been able to express an opinion and is it taken into account?
- Is the use of nanomaterials limited, reserved for a confined professional environment?
- Will the health, environmental and social impacts be significantly altered by a commercial extension to the general public?
- Have the consequences of a generalization of these products integrating nanomaterials / nanotechnologies been simulated?
- Have waste flow simulations been done?
- Do alternatives exist? and are they more or less “effective” than the advertised properties related to “added nanos”?
Elsewhere on the web
In French :
- Ecological transition in research: greener chemistry for a sustainable world, Pierre Lalanne, La Recherche, 28 March 2022
In English:
-
Forget microplastics: we may have a much smaller problem, The Guardian, 25 April 2022
Any questions or comments? This information sheet compiled by AVICENN is intended to be completed and updated. Please feel free to contribute.
Other news on the topic
Our information sheets to go further
Upcoming Nano Agenda
18
Mars
2025
C’Nano 2025: The Nanoscience Meeting (C’Nano – Paris, France)
Paris
Congress
- 6th interdisciplinary nanoscience congress, dedicated to all academic and industrial scientists in nanoscience and nanotechnology, including researchers, engineers, PhD students, post-docs, etc.
- March 18 to 21, 2025
- Organizers: Centre national de Compétences en Nanosciences du CNRS, C’Nano
- Website: https://cnano2025.sciencesconf.org
14
Avr.
2025
Advanced Characterization Techniques in Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology (Nano2025, Rome – Italy)
Rome
Congress
- Advanced Characterization Techniques in Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology
- 10th European Congress on Advanced Nanotechnology and Nanomaterials
- 14 and 15 April 2025
- Website: https://nanomaterialsconference.com
1
Juin
2025
Applications of Nanomaterials to Sustainably Address Water, Food, and Health (Newry, Maine – United States)
Newry, Maine
Conference
- 7th Environmental nanotechology Gordon Research Conference (GRC)
- Chairs: Peter Vikeslan and Denise Mitrano
- Date: June 1-6, 2025
- Website: https://www.grc.org/environmental-nanotechnology-conference/2025/
File initially put on line in October 2013