Obama nano and nano risks in cosmetics

Take a look at the image of US president-elect Barack Obama that’s been made out of carbon nanotubes. It’s called Nanobama and it’s here.

Today BBC News had an article about warnings from a consumer safety watchdog group, Which? (formerly known as the Consumers’ Association). They wrote to 67 cosmetics companies asking them about their use of nanotechnology. 17 companies responded and eight of them provided specific information about how they use nanotechnology in their products. The eight companies included: Avon, L’Oreal, The Body Shop, Nivea, Unilever, and others. After examining the information, Which? has advised that nanocosmetic products should have an independent safety assessment.

There has been an attempt at voluntary reporting of engineered nanomaterials. It was instituted by the UK government in the fall of 2006. To date, they’ve had 12 responses and the voluntary programme is under review. I get the feeling that government regulation may be a reality in the not too distant future. Anyway, it’s a good introductory article about cosmetics, the precautionary principle, and nanotechnology and it’s located here.

In fact, the article reminded me of an event with L’Oreal that the Project for Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) had to postpone a few months ago. It was called, Small is Beautiful–A European View of Nanotech Cosmetics and Safety and it was to feature a speaker from L’Oreal and PEN’s science advisor, Andrew Maynard. I hope they find a way to reschedule it soon.

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