Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
6
Nanofoods: Environmental, Health,
and Socioeconomic Risks or the
Achilles' He
el of Nanotechnologies?
Simon Beaudoin, Louise Vandelac, and Christian Papilloud
CONTENTS
6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 109
6.2 Nanofood Sector ........................................................................................ 110
6.3 Nanofood Public Policies .......................................................................... 113
6.4 Nanofood Scientific and Social Assessment .......................................... 115
6.5 Nanofood's Potential Impacts .................................................................. 116
6.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 117
Acknowledgments .............................................................................................. 120
Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 121
6.1 Introduction
After more than 20 years of laboratory and research and development (R&D)
work, advances in the nanotechnology field permeate almost all research
areas in live and material sciences (e.g., chemistry, physics, biology, medicine,
engineering). They are widely commercialized owing to substantial help from
public authorities, themselves banking heavily on the competitive advantages
touted by the industry (Roco 2005). Since early 2000, more than 60 countries in
the world show strong activities in this field. The major league players, includ-
ing the United States, China, South Korea, the European Union, Russia, and
Japan (PCAST 2012), accelerate their strategic development plans in the hope
of better market shares (EEB 2009). The rise of nanotechnologies can also be
clearly observed through the multiplication of specialized and vernacular
publications (from a little more than 30,000 in 1998 to more than 100,000 in
2009; cf. ObservatoryNANO 2011), as well as the increasing annual rate of pat-
ent submissions (+34.5% between 2000 and 2008; cf. Dang et al. 2010).
Economic predictions regarding the exponential growth of the nano-
technology market can be factored into the skyrocketing popularity of the
field. According to the consulting firm Cientifica (2011), whose work notably
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