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The New Deficit Model

Nature Nanotechnology volume 4, pages 609–611 (2009)Cite this article

Calls for more data on the impact of nanomaterials on human health and the environment reflect a failure to accept that there will always be unknowns associated with any new technology. Effective governance of emerging nanotechnologies will require an acknowledgement of these unknowns, an open and adaptive approach to regulation, and the courage to make decisions.

The general public is often unwilling to accept scientific assessments of risk. For example, if a householder living near the site of a new chemical factory is told about high-tech safety precautions, or if a consumer is told about the low probability of gene transfer between species, it is quite likely that neither the householder nor the consumer will change their initial opposition to the factory or the genetically modified food.

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Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges stimulating conversations with J. Pennington (Bioethics Council of New Zealand), S. Davenport (Victoria Univ. Wellington), J. Cupples (Univ. Canterbury), G. Fitzgerald (Fitzgerald Applied Sociology) and J. Gough (Environmental Risk Management Authority).

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  1. Simon Brown is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. simon.brown@canterbury.ac.nz,

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Brown, S. The New Deficit Model. Nature Nanotech 4, 609–611 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2009.278

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