Nano and corporate responsibility
It is in the collective interests of business, government and society to ensure that nanotechnologies achieve their potential to deliver health, environmental, social and economic benefits. But if the public and others do not trust that the regulation will maintain good standards of safety for people and the environment, or do not believe that companies are bringing useful, safe products to market, then there is a danger that a consumer backlash will prevent these benefits being realised.
In the past, companies have been perceived, sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly, as trying to cash in on a new technology or trend without consideration of the important social and ethical issues at stake and ignoring the views of the public. We want to help ensure that nanotechnology is different.
Defining the appropriate responsibilities of companies in relation to nano was the focus of an initiative which ran from 2006-2008 resulting in the developed of a principles-based Code of Conduct called The Responsible Nano Code. Hilary Sutcliffe, the Director of the Responsible Nano Forum, and some members of its Steering Group were involved in that process.
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