Health significance of nanotechnologies

Nanoscience and nanotechnologies represent a field of study that is currently attracting a great deal of attention. The prefix ‘nano’ refers to the nanometre (nm), one billionth of a metre. The unusual mechanical, optical, electrical, and magnetic properties exhibited by materials with dimensions in the range 100 nm down to around 0.1 nm (the size of a single atom) can differ markedly from the properties of the same materials at larger dimensions. In recent years, researchers have become increasingly adept at manipulating the shape and size of materials at the nanometre scale and have therefore been able to study and exploit these unusual properties.

Committee

• Professor WE Bijker, chairman
  professor of technology and society studies; University of Maastricht
• Professor ID de Beaufort
  professor of medical ethics; Erasmus MC, Rotterdam
• Professor A van den Berg
  professor of biomedical and environmental sensor systems; University of Twente, Enschede
• Professor PJA Borm
  professor of inhalation toxicology; University of Düsseldorf; Lector Life Sciences, Hogeschool Zuyd, Heerlen
• Professor WJG Oyen
  professor of nuclear medicine; University Medical Centre St. Radboud Nijmegen
• Professor GT Robillard
  professor of enzymology; University of Groningen
• Doctor HFG van Dijk, scientific secretary
  Health Council, The Hague