The Nanotechnology Challenge: Creating Legal Institutions for Uncertain Risks

Nanotechnology is the wave of the future, and has already been incorporated into everything from toothpaste to socks to military equipment. The safety of nanotechnology for human health and the environment is a great unknown, however, and no legal system in the world has yet devised a way to reasonably address the uncertain risks of nanotechnology. To do so will require creating new legal institutions. This volume of essays by leading law scholars and social and physical scientists offers a range of views as to how such institutions should be formed. Readers will benefit from an accessible synthesis of the available science regarding the health risks posed by nanotechnology, thoughtful analyses of the potential unreliability of public perceptions of such risks, and a range of provocative proposals for creative "Third Way" approaches to regulating nanotechnology. This book is essential reading for anyone who may wonder how we can continue to innovate technologically in a way that both delivers the benefits and sustains human health and the environment.