9.3 Protocols for Risk Assessment/Safety and Education
Awareness
Every technology has light and dark sides. Similarly, the benefits of nanotechnology
in agriculture and food security have some ill impacts too. Till today the knowledge
is narrow on the implications of nanomaterial exposure on environment and health.
But as it is a recent technology, a lot of researches are going on to gather a huge
volume of data. Many more are synthesizing the findings of the earlier studies
through meta-analysis to come across prudent conclusions (Satterfield et al. 2009).
Gradually because of continued development of nanotechnology, people shall recognize its importance and consequences. It will likely to affect public as the mass can
largely react like GM crops earlier. The public’s willingness to allow research and
experiment to precede the uncertain trials may cause hazards to environment and
benefits to mankind. In general people reacted more against the consequences might
not be aware about the fact properly. They are influenced more by neighbors and
friends than facts. Public opinion surveys were conducted to understand the community perception about nanotechnology and its risk in different countries (Dowling
et al. (2004) in the UK; Fujita et al. (2006) in Japan; Scheufele et al. (2009) in the
USA/EU, Siegrist et al. (2008) in Sweden; Kahan et al. (2009) in the USA). The
perception study is critical for any new research arena because the risk perception is
not a knowledge deficit but the result of social and psychological factors (Stanovich
and West 2008). Another reason is that human behavior is highly influenced by what
Fig. 9.2 Application areas of nanotechnology in food industry (Ozimek et al. 2010)
9 Application of Nanotechnology in Agriculture
335
Awareness
Every technology has light and dark sides. Similarly, the benefits of nanotechnology
in agriculture and food security have some ill impacts too. Till today the knowledge
is narrow on the implications of nanomaterial exposure on environment and health.
But as it is a recent technology, a lot of researches are going on to gather a huge
volume of data. Many more are synthesizing the findings of the earlier studies
through meta-analysis to come across prudent conclusions (Satterfield et al. 2009).
Gradually because of continued development of nanotechnology, people shall recognize its importance and consequences. It will likely to affect public as the mass can
largely react like GM crops earlier. The public’s willingness to allow research and
experiment to precede the uncertain trials may cause hazards to environment and
benefits to mankind. In general people reacted more against the consequences might
not be aware about the fact properly. They are influenced more by neighbors and
friends than facts. Public opinion surveys were conducted to understand the community perception about nanotechnology and its risk in different countries (Dowling
et al. (2004) in the UK; Fujita et al. (2006) in Japan; Scheufele et al. (2009) in the
USA/EU, Siegrist et al. (2008) in Sweden; Kahan et al. (2009) in the USA). The
perception study is critical for any new research arena because the risk perception is
not a knowledge deficit but the result of social and psychological factors (Stanovich
and West 2008). Another reason is that human behavior is highly influenced by what
Fig. 9.2 Application areas of nanotechnology in food industry (Ozimek et al. 2010)
9 Application of Nanotechnology in Agriculture
335