The UK’s Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering today released their long-awaited report on the potential risks and benefits of nanotechnology. The report proposes:

UK and European legislation should treat nanoparticles and nanotubes as new chemicals and avoid release of such nanomaterials into the environment until more is known about their impact.

Set lower exposure levels for people who work with manufactured nanoparticles.

A new interdisciplinary center should research the “toxicity, epidemiology, persistence and bioaccumulation of manufactured nanoparticles and nanotubes as well as their exposure pathways” and instruments for monitoring the materials in the environment.

Industry should make details of its nanomaterial safety tests publicly available if the toxicological data available in peer-reviewed journals is incomplete.

Nanoparticles and nanotubes should be approved by an independent scientific safety committee before their use in consumer products.