Not another GMO: explaining Europe's approach to nanotechnologies

Abstract: Despite early warnings about “knowledge-enabled mass destruction” and the ongoing battle over agricultural biotechnology, the development of nanotechnology in Europe has been remarkably quiet over the past decade: non-governmental organization (NGO) campaigns against “nano” were all but inexistent and the wider public appears largely uninterested in nanotechnology. Why has Europe’s experience with nanotechnologies been so fundamentally different from that with genetically modified organisms (GMOs)? This article argues that differences in the technologies as such cannot fully explain this divergence. Instead, a convergence of interests across key groups of stakeholders, the institutional evolution of the European Union (EU) and the experience from the GMO case enabled and facilitated a highly anticipatory and proactive approach to nanotechnology risk governance. This approach, marked by early capacity building, stakeholder involvement and gradual regulation succeeded in avoiding pub

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource, 27 S.
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion ; begutachtet (peer reviewed)

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: KFG Working Paper Series ; Bd. 44

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Ingenieurwissenschaften und Maschinenbau

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2012
• Creator: Jaspers, Nico
• Contributor: Freie Universität Berlin, FB Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften, Otto-Suhr-Institut für Politikwissenschaft Kolleg-Forschergruppe "The Transformative Power of Europe"

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-373500
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:19 AM CEST