SciDev.Net

Nanotechnology is developing at a rapid pace in India. The government has set up a dedicated Nano Mission to channel R&D funding into public research and develop human resources and institutional capabilities in a structured manner. Several private sector players especially in the health and pharmaceuticals and the textiles sectors have made considerable investment in developing novel product lines by integrating naomaterials and in enabling the miniatiarising of current devices. properties like porousity, moisture retention and malleability of nanostructures have been manipulated to create a range of products with value added characteristics.

Already there are several products in the market which use nanomaterials like the Samsung washing machines using silver nano particles and use of nano-tex the stain resistant for making stain resistant fabrics by the Arvind Mills in India. There is also the possibility of several products in the market that use nanmaterials or nanoparticles without quouting them within their product ingriedient section.

The purpose of the conference is to bring together policymakers, nanoscientists, lawyers and academicians to debate and discuss a range of regulatory issues relating to nanotechnology regulation in India. Please find attached the conference announcement (including the call for papers).

The goal of the conference is as follows:

• Benchmark the international regulatory developments in this field and analyze their implications for India.
• Analyse the current regulatory structure and provide a gap analysis
• Draw lessons from the risk (EHS) regulation paradigms in operation vis-a-vis emerging technologies like biotechnology and discuss their application with reference to nanotechnology
• Address cross cutting isues like the patents regime, role of courts and other governance agencies and ethical issues underlying the regulatory options

In this context the National Conference on Nanotechnology and Regulatory Issues is being co-organized by TERI and the Department of Law, Calcutta University between the 9-10 January 2009 at the Centre for NanoScience and Nanotechnology, Saltlake City, Kolkata.