The Go-Nano project consists out of a series of workshops which will identify and apply public values in the development process of nanotechnologies. In order to get a grasp on which societal issues might arise during the workshops, stakeholders with different roles in the Research and Innovation value chain were interviewed. Two main topics were indicated, regarding the communication and regulatory/safety aspects of nanotechnologies.
Communication
Stakeholders identified the need to provide balanced information to citizens on use of nanotechnologies. They find it beneficial to fill knowledge gaps, as a lot of questions arise, to clear up uncertainties in order to make the implementation of nanotechnologies useful.
“It should also be considered that the way consumers perceive and deal with risks and benefits of the use of new technologies in food is also strongly cultural dependent.” [R&I networks]
Regulation and food safety
New methods have to be developed for standardization and classification of novel foods, stakeholders illustrated that this is needed in order to have clear regulations on nano-materials. Additional, the stakeholders think that the long-term effect of nano-particles on the human body and health has to be researched in-depth. However, they also identified that there is a lack of techniques which are able to detect nano-particles, which are necessary to establish whether particles can migrate from packaging into food, or from food all over the human body.
Other aspects raised by stakeholders in Europe: