ETC Group: COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT: Design a Nano-Hazard Symbol

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ETC Group: COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT: Design a Nano-Hazard Symbol

 

 

 

COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT: Design a Nano-Hazard Symbol

 

ETC Group announces International Graphic Design Competition

CALL FOR ENTRIES

 

Biotechnology, nuclear power, toxic chemicals, electromagnetic

radiation -- each of these technological hazards has a universally

recognized warning symbol associated with it. So why not

nanotechnology -- the world's most powerful (and potentially

dangerous) technology?

 

Concerned citizens everywhere are invited to submit their designs for

a universal Nanotechnology Hazard Symbol at: http://www.etcgroup.org/

nanohazard

 

Entries will be judged by a panel of eminent judges convened by the

ETC Group (Action Group on Erosion Technology and Concentration,

www.etcgroup.org). These judges include Dr. Vyvyan Howard (Editor of

the Journal of Nanotoxicity), Dr. Gregor Wolbring (The Canadian

Advisory Commitee on Nanotech Standardisation), Chee Yoke Ling (Third

World Network), Claire Pentecost (Associate Professor and Chair of

the Photography Department at the School of the Art Institute of

Chicago), Rory O'Neill (Editor of Hazards magazine) and Dr. Alexis

Vlandas (Nanotechnology Spokesperson for International Network of

Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility). Entries will

also be judged by participants at the World Social Forum, Nairobi,

Kenya, 20-25 January 2007.

 

The winning entry will be submitted to international standard-setting

bodies responsible for hazard characterisation, to international

governmental organisations and to national governments as a proposed

symbol for nanotechnology hazards.

 

Closing date: 8 January 2007

 

A gallery of entries submitted will be available at http://

www.etcgroup.org

 

 

Why Do We Need a Nano-Hazard Symbol?

 

Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the tiny level of atoms

and molecules, has created a new class of materials with unusual

properties and new toxicities.

 

It used to be that nanotechnology was the stuff of science fiction.

Today, however, there are over one thousand nanotechnology companies

worldwide. Nanoparticles, nanotubes and other engineered

nanomaterials are already in use in hundreds of everyday consumer

products, raising significant health, safety and environmental

concerns. Nanoparticles are able to move around the body and the

environment more readily than larger particles of pollution. Because

of their extremely small size and large surface area nanoparticles

may be more reactive and more toxic than larger particles of the same

substance. They have been compared to asbestos by leading insurance

companies who worry their health impact could lead to massive claims.

At least one US-based insurance company has canceled coverage of

small companies involved with nanotechnology. Unlike more familiar

forms of pollution arising from new technologies, nano-hazards

(potentially endangering consumers, workers and the environment) have

yet to be fully characterized, regulated or even subject to safety

testing. The US Food and Drug Administration will have its first

public meeting about regulating nanomaterials on October 10, 2006.

Most governments worldwide have yet to even begin thinking about nano-

regulation. Nonetheless, nanoparticles invisible to the naked eye are

already in foods, cosmetics, pesticides and clothing without even

being labelled. Every day laboratory and factory workers could be

inhaling and ingesting nanoparticles while the rest of us may be

unwittingly putting them on our skin, in our body or in the

environment.

 

It's not just a safety question. Nanotechnology also raises new

societal hazards: The granting of patents on nano-scale materials and

processes, and even elements of the periodic table, allows for

increased corporate power and monopoly over the smallest parts of

nature. Some designer nanomaterials may come to replace natural

products such as cotton, rubber and metals -- displacing the

livelihoods of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the

world. In the near future the merger of nanotechnology with

biotechnology (in nano-biotechnology applications such as synthetic

biology) will lead to new designer organisms, modified at the

molecular level, posing new biosafety threats. Nano-enabled

technologies also aim to 'enhance' human beings and 'fix' the

disabled, a goal that raises troubling ethical issues and the specter

of a new divide between the technologically " improved " and

" unimproved. "

 

ETC Group has called for a moratorium on nanoparticle production and

release to allow for a full societal debate and until such time as

precautionary regulations are in place to protect workers, consumers

and the environment. Standard setting bodies around the world are now

scrambling to agree on nomenclature that can describe nanoparticles

and nanomaterials. A common, internationally-recognized symbol

warning of the presence of engineered nanomaterials is equally overdue.

 

For a short and simple introduction to Nanotechnology see " A Tiny

Primer on Nano-scale Technologies, " available online: http://

www.etcgroup.org/en/materials/publications.html?id=55

 

 

Details Of The Competition:

 

We are asking concerned people everywhere (including artists,

designers, scientists, students, regulators and members of the

public) to submit possible designs for an international Nano-Hazard

warning symbol that could be used to identify the presence of

nanmoaterials. This symbol could, for example, be placed on products

containing nanomaterials, in laboratories or factories where workers

handle nanoparticles, or on containers transporting nanomaterials.

The symbol should be simple, easy to recognize and communicate

clearly the new, potential hazards that result when matter is

manipulated at the nanoscale (1 billionth of a metre -- the size of

atoms and molecules).

 

We encourage participants to be as creative as possible in inventing

a new nano-hazard symbol. Images can be designed on computer or by

hand, scanned, photographed or otherwise rendered in 2 dimensions --

either using colour or in black and white. Entries will be judged on

their conceptual as well as artistic merit. Descriptions and

explanations accompanying the entries will be very welcome.

 

For examples of existing hazard warning symbols for comparison see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazard_symbol

 

Participants can submit as many different entries as they wish. Each

entry should be submitted seperately. Entries can be submitted in one

of 3 ways:

1) Upload electronically using the upload form at http://

www.etcgroup.org/nanohazard

2) Email as a jpeg or gif file to nanohazard

3) Send by post to Nano-Hazard Competition, ETC Group, 431 Gilmour

Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 0R5. Canada

 

Please include your name, country and a contact email or postal

address.

 

All submitted entries will be treated as non-copyright and in the

public domain unless the submitter wishes to place them under a

creative commons license allowing free non-commercial use (see

details here http://www.creativecommons.org). Entries submitted with

copyright conditions (other than creative commons) will not be

considered. Entries sent by post will not be returned.

 

The closing date for entries is 8th January 2007.

 

Judging will be in two parts:

 

Judging Panel: A selection of entries will first be made by a panel

of eminent judges chosen by the ETC Group.

This panel includes:

Dr. Vyvyan Howard, Founding editor of the Journal of Nanotoxicology.

Dr. Gregor Wolbring, The Canadian Advisory Commitee on Nanotech

Standardisation.

Chee Yoke Ling, Legal Advisor, Third World Network.

Claire Pentecost, Artist, Writer, Associate Professor and Chair of

the Photography Department at the School of the Art Institute of

Chicago

Rory O Neill, Editor of Hazards (trade union workplace safety

magazine).

Dr. Alexis Vlandas, Nanotechnology spokesperson for International

Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility.

 

Public Judging: The selected entries will then be displayed at the

World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya (20- 25 January 2007) for civil

society attendees to judge. We also encourage everyone to view the

gallery of submitted artwork online and submit comments there.

 

 

More Information:

 

For a short introduction to nanotechnology see: " A Tiny Primer on

Nano-scale Technologies " available online: http://www.etcgroup.org/

en/materials/publications.html?id=55

 

For an introduction to the toxicity of nanoscale materials see the

following resources:

 

" Size Matters " (2003), an ETC Occasional Paper which includes an

appendix by Dr Vyvyan Howard, Founding Editor of the Journal of

Nanotoxicology: http://www.etcgroup.org/upload/publication/165/01/

occ.paper_nanosafety.pdf

 

ETC Group's 2004 Communique, 'Nano's Troubled Waters' http://

www.etcgroup.org/upload/publication/116/01/gt_troubledwater_april1.pdf

 

A May 2006 report on nanotechnology in sunscreens and cosmetics by

Friends of the Earth: http://www.foe.org/camps/comm/nanotech/

 

A recent scientific evaluation of nanoscale hazards by the European

Commission's highest level scientific committee on toxicity, The

Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks:

http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scenihr/

scenihr_cons_01_en.htm

 

A comprehensive overview (2004) of nanoparticle toxicity, " Small

Matter, Many Unknowns " by Swiss Re, the world's second largest re-

insurance company: http://www.swissre.com/INTERNET/pwsfilpr.nsf/

vwFilebyIDKEYLu/ULUR-5YNGET/$FILE/Publ04_Nanotech_en.pdf

 

Take Action:

 

The US Food and Drug Administration is holding its first-ever public

hearing to discuss regulatory issues related to nanotechnology on

October 10, 2006. Despite the fact that the US government spends

approximately $1 billion per year on nanotech R & D and hundreds of

consumer products are already on the market, the US government spends

a paltry $11 million per year on nanotechnology related risk research

(1.1% of the total budget). Go here for details: http://

www.nanotechproject.org/80/nanotechnology-development-suffers-from-

lack-of-risk-research-plan

 

In May 2006 ETC Group joined the International Center for Technology

Assessment, Friends of the Earth and other consumer health and

environmental groups in a legal petition challenging FDA's failure to

regulate health and environmental threats from nanomaterials

currently used in consumer products. The full petition and an

executive summary are available here: http://www.icta.org/nanotech/

index.cfm

 

You can send electronic comments to the FDA asking them to properly

control, regulate and label nanomaterials. An online form is

available to help you do this via The Center for Food Safety. Go to:

http://ga3.org/campaign/Nano

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