European Parliament, DG Internal Policies of the Union, Directorate G: Impact Assessment
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Nanotechnologies
a STOA perspective
Ir Peter Ide-Kostic
Administrator - European Parliament – STOA Unit
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Which are the EP organisations
involved with Nanotechnology ?
• EP Committees: ENVI, ITRE, IMCO
• EP Policy research unit
• EP Library
 STOA (Science and Technology Options Assessment) unit
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What is Technology Assessment ?
Technology assessment (TA) is a scientific, interactive, and
communicative process that aims to contribute to the formation of public
and political opinion on societal aspects of science and technology.
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So what is STOA ?
(Scientific Technology Options Assessment)
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It is not a committee…
It is not a Policy research unit in support of committee work…
It is not a documentation center…
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It is a hybrid form of all of these: The STOA Panel is composed of
15 MEPs belonging to 6 committees (ENVI, ITRE, IMCO, AGRI,
EMPL, TRAN)
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STOA Panel
Vittorio
Salvatore
PRODI (IT) TATARELLA (IT)
ENVI
ENVI
Oldřich VLASÁK (CZ)
ITRE
Evžen
Kent
TOŠENOVSKÝ (CZ) JOHANSSON (SE)
ITRE
ITRE
Paul RÜBIG (AT)
IMCO
Malcolm
HARBOUR (UK)
IMCO
Antonio
F.CORREIA
DE CAMPOS
(PT)
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STOA Rules - Mission
Article 1(2): “… STOA shall:
• provide Parliament’s … parliamentary bodies … with
independent, high-quality and scientifically impartial studies …
for the assessment of the impact of possibly introducing or
promoting new technologies and shall identify … the options for
the best courses of action to take …”
• Article 1(3): “ STOA shall carry out its work in such a way that
the results are relevant to the European Parliament in its role as
legislator.”
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STOA Rules - Studies of Technology
Assessment (Article 6)
- Studies of technology assessment should provide an answer to
medium- to long-term, complex and interdisciplinary problems relating
to the impact of scientific and technological developments on society.
- The proposals submitted for that purpose are approved by the STOA
Panel on the basis of the following criteria: relevance of the subject to
Parliament's work, scientific and technological nature of the proposal,
and availability of scientific evidence covering the subject.
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Study
External
STOA
STOA
Expertise
MEP(s)
MEP(s)
?
Workshops
Interviews
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Nanotechnologies studies published by STOA
1.
2.
3.
The Role of Nanotechnology (NT) in Chemical
Substitution : April 2007
Nanotechnology in the food sector : September
2009
Nanosafety – Risk Governance of Manufactured of
Nanoparticles: March 2012
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The Role of Nanotechnology (NT) in
Chemical Substitution
• ABSTRACT: The aim of the project is to give an overview of
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already used and conceivable applications of Nanotechnology (NT) in
order to replace hazardous chemicals.
The overall idea behind this project is to identify new applications of NT
which could help to reduce the risks related to hazardous substances
and chemical processes. One prominent example is the substitution of
anti-fouling coatings used in the ship industry by nanotechnological
based coatings, which are already under investigation (AMBIO-project,
http://www.ambio.bham.ac.uk/)
Which substances are considered as ‘hazardous chemicals’?
What is meant by the term Nanotechnology and how can it be
distinguished from biology and chemistry respectively?
What is the meaning of ‘chemical substitution’ in relation to NT?
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Nanotechnology in the food sector
• ABSTRACT: This study provides an overview of nanomaterials used in
the food sector. Today, nanotechnology is virtually insignificant in terms of
environmentally sound and health-promoting nutrition, and even in the
future it is only likely to play a relatively subordinate role in making
nutrition more sustainable. But nanotechnology is already used in food
packaging, an area that is regarded as having considerable potential for
innovation. The study assesses these products in respect of environmental
issues and sustainability, showing the direction that future developments
might take and where there is a need for caution.
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Nanosafety – Risk Governance of
Manufactured Nanoparticles
• ABSTRACT: This report deals with the potential environmental, health
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and safety (EHS) risks of engineered nanomaterials (ENM). Because of the
great uncertainties regarding their actual health and environmental effects and
numerous methodological challenges to established risk assessment
procedures (toxicology, exposure and hazard assessments, life cycle
assessment, analytics, and others), risk management of ENM is confronted with
serious challenges. On the other hand, precautionary regulatory action with
regard to ENM is demanded by a number of stakeholders and parts of the
general public.
Regulation under uncertainty raises fundamental political questions of how
lawmakers should regulate risk in the face of such uncertainty. To explore this
issue in greater detail, the project focused on two important perspectives of
regulation: Risk management strategies for ENM as discussed or proposed
for the EU or its Member States, and risk communication problems and
needs for EHS risks of ENM.
Findings of the project were discussed with MEPs in several workshops. In
addition, the project used also a participatory method in order to investigate
the risk communication expectations of the general public.
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Thank you for your attention !
STOA website: http://www.stoa.europarl.europa.eu
[email protected]
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