As Uses Grow, Tiny Materials’ Safety Is Hard to Pin Down

November 3, 2003 | Source: New York Times

Investors and policy makers are finding that pinpointing the potential environmental and health impacts of nanotechnology could take years.

The federal government has projected that sales of products based on nanotechnology will reach $1 trillion by 2015. That pace of industrial adoption is on a collision course with the measured pace of toxicology and environmental impact research.