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A Feb. 7, 2013 news item on Nanowerk highlights an initiative by a not-for-profit agency, As You Sow, to crowdfund nanotoxicology research (Note: Links have been removed),

“Slipping Through the Cracks: An Issue Brief on Nanomaterials in Food” was released yesterday by As You Sow, a nonprofit organization that promotes corporate responsibility and environmental health. The brief includes results of a survey of 2,500 food companies about their use of nanomaterials in food products, as well as laboratory results showing titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles in the white powdered sugar that coats Dunkin’ Donuts Powdered Cake Donuts and Hostess Donettes.

Intent on testing more common food products, As You Sow has simultaneously launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. “We plan to raise enough money to test M&M’s, Pop-Tarts, and Trident gum for nanomaterials,” said As You Sow CEO Andrew Behar.

The organization’s Slipping Through the Cracks: An Issue Brief on Nanomaterials in Foods can be found here. Clicking on the publication’s  Download the report (PDF) link produces a form which needs to be filled out prior to receiving it.  From the ‘Slipping Through the Cracks’  webpage,

Slipping Through the Cracks is designed to inform companies, investors, and consumers about the emerging use of engineered nanomaterials in food and food related products. It highlights the potential risks of nanotechnology for companies who are knowingly or unknowingly using it in their products and for public health.

As You Sow and other leading investors surveyed 25,000 food manufacturers and tested a range of popular donuts; the results of both inquiries proved that nanomaterials are currently being used in food products. [emphases mine]

The terminology “leading investors” is an interesting choice. Is that because activist or civil society member is considered more pejorative? From the As You Sow About Us page (Note: Links have been removed),

Founded in 1992, As You Sow promotes environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and innovative legal strategies. Our efforts create large-scale systemic change by establishing sustainable and equitable corporate practices.

As You Sow was founded on the belief that many environmental and human rights issues can be resolved by increased corporate responsibility. As investor representatives, we communicate directly with corporate executives to collaboratively develop and implement business models that reduce risk, benefit brand reputation, and protect long term shareholder value while simultaneously bringing about positive change for the environment and human rights.

How does this work and from where do they get their funding? It’s hard to imagine an investor in IBM or Proctor & Gamble or Facebook or Monsanto or … contacting these folks and asking them to ensure corporate social responsibility and investigate nanomaterials in food. Alternatively, which food or other type of company asked them to check for nanomaterials in donuts? The whole endeavour does seems a bit odd.

In any event, As You Sow’s Feb. 6, 2013 news release about the Indiegogo campaign makes some largely unexceptional comments,

Nanomaterials have been heralded as having the potential to revolutionize the food industry – from enabling production of creamy liquids that contain no fat, to enhancing flavors, improving supplement delivery, providing brighter colors, keeping food fresh longer, or indicating when it spoils. Yet few, if any, studies adequately demonstrate the safety of nanoparticles in food. In fact, scientists are still investigating how nanoparticles will react in the body and what testing methodologies are appropriate to determine this.

“There has been a lot of buzz about the potential for nanomaterials in food, but very little information about the risks to public health,” said Danielle Fugere, As You Sow President and co‐author of the brief. “Much deeper scientific inquiry is needed to prove nanomaterials are safe before they continue to be sold commercially.” [emphasis mine]

“Deeper scientific inquiry” sounds like an excellent idea unfortunately the folks at As You Sow seem to believe that the ‘scientific inquiry’ finding proof of a predetermined outcome, from the Protect Kids from Nanomaterials in Sweets crowdfunding campaign page on Indiegogo,

Kid-friendly foods like M&Ms & Pop-Tarts may contain dangerous nanoparticles, which we found in Dunkin Donuts. Help us test more foods & keep your family safe.

As You Sow found nanomaterials in Dunkin Donuts as noted in their Feb. 6, 2013 news release. Strangely that news release does not contain any information about research proving that the nano titanium dioxide on the donuts is dangerous to anyone’s health. There is not a single piece of research or expert cited. This seems less like a scientific inquiry and more like pseudo-science. The fact that there are some dangerous nanomaterials means that all nanomaterials are dangerous and and, if upon testing, any nanomaterials are found in a foodstuff that means the foodstuff is dangerous to our health.

From a semiotic perspective, there’s a wealth of imagery and signification to work with, far too much for this post.

Shockingly, this group has raised almost 25% of the funds they’ve requested with 33 days left in the campaign.