Nanotechnology Risk Regulation and Policy in Europe and the United States

As the second semester begins, please join us for our next Monday departmental seminar on the 21st of February from 15:00 to 16:00 at the Porter Auditorium.

https://tau-ac-il.zoom.us/j/83229921170

Nanotechnology Risk Regulation and Policy in Europe and the United States

Dr. Ronit Justo-Hanani, the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, and the Department of

Public Policy, Tel Aviv University

Abstract

This study explains a growing divergence between the US and EU regulatory policies over
nanotechnology environmental, health, and safety risks. Faced with significant scientific and
regulatory uncertainties, incremental approaches have been taken in both regulatory systems,
but substantial differences are evident in terms of both policy processes and stringency.
While the EU exhibits a regulatory integration process with stringent adjustments of existing
legislative frameworks, the US is far less engaged in regulatory adaptations. I have carried
out a comparative analysis of the EU and US regulatory policies. I suggest that literature
perspectives that focus on differing public attitudes, economic interests, and advocacy
pressure groups do not suffice to explain the regulatory policy divergence. I argue that a
combined effect of domestic politics and policy styles provides the most powerful
explanation of why the US and EU currently differ with respect to their regulatory responses
to nanotechnology risks and uncertainties.