Nanotechnology

FDA to industry: Please call us if you put nanomaterials in food

Earlier this summer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised the food industry what a manufacturer should do if it puts nanomaterials in food: Please call us. The human health effects of ingesting nanomaterials are not well understood, but a few food manufacturers claim to include nanomaterials in their products. The FDA’s advice could have been worse: Don’t call us.

Nanotechnology Risk to Soil Health

Overview: Nanotechnology and its application to agriculture and food

Environmental and public health still secondary to product development in new national nanotech strategy

The 2014 National Nanotechnology Initiative Strategic Plan was released on February 28, a Friday afternoon. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but when the U.S. government doesn’t want to draw attention to a report, often that report will be released on a Friday afternoon.

Trade Secrets

The pending free trade agreements, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), are designed to ensure that food safety regulations do not impede trade.

Comment on the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) draft Strategic Plan

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), a 501(c)(3) organization, is pleased to submit this comment. IATP participated in the NNI stakeholder workshop in June, including two breakout sessions on Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) impacts.

Campos do trigo: Nanotechnology and civil society microscopy in Brazil

In the hall at the University of São Paulo School of Mining, Materials Science and Engineering is an exhibit of electronic microscopy photographs of nanomaterials which have been engineered to between atomic and molecular size. One of the most beautiful photographs is titled “Campos do trigo”, that is, "fields of wheat," represented by carbon nanotubes synthesized on a silicon layer.

WEBINAR: Agricultural nanotechnology and the future of food

Nanotechnology, a group of techniques for manufacturing and manipulating sub-molecular sized materials, is being applied to agriculture, food processing and food packaging. This webinar will discuss the effect of nanomaterials on soil health and the food chain.

Nanomaterials in fertilizer products could threaten soil health, agriculture

Minneapolis – Nanomaterials added to soil via fertilizers and treated sewage waste used to fertilize fields could threaten soil health necessary to keep land productive, says a new report released today by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). Peer-reviewed scientific research also indicates possible negative impacts of nano-fertilizers on public health and the food supply.

Now being served in a soil food chain near you: Nanotech

Commercialization of all kinds of nanotech is happening fast.

World Social Forum: Building a "Revolution for Dignity"

The Bardo Museum in Tunis, Tunisia has the largest collection of ancient mosaics in the world. Most of the mosaics, depicting Roman, Greek Phoenician and Nubian life, gods and royalty, are incomplete.