Our Mission Statement: Nanotechnology has been around for a while, but it is becoming more pervasive as new products and applications appear. The National Nanotechnology Initiative lists developing uses as diverse as cancer treatments, nerve regeneration, efficient solar energy, and both industrial and consumer product enhancement. Notwithstanding this burst of technological ingenuity, the impact of nanotechnology on human health and the environment has been only sparsely studied, and nanotechnology is virtually unregulated in the United States. Without information regarding the impacts of nanotechnology, agencies entrusted with making regulatory decisions regarding applications that use the technology – such as OSHA, FDA, and EPA – cannot effectively regulate. As an emerging technology with unknown risks, nanotechnology is likely to follow the path of other toxic torts in the areas of both private law and public law.
The purpose of this site is to raise legal questions about the impact of nanotechnology and comment upon the ways in which those questions are likely to be raised in the legal system.
