ABSTRACT
European Union (EU) policy development in nanotechnology over the past five years shows an uneasy relation between the demands of politics and business and a commitment to a sustainable and responsible approach, with its characteristic emphasis on precaution. Strong in creative technical ideas and in public awareness of environmental and public health issues, and lacking either the kind of integrated mobilization of resources for nanotechnology we find in the USA or the more centralized approach of Japan, European Union (EU) policy finds itself hampered by problems of political, infrastructural and financial integration. In the EU (which now comprises 25 nations) the contradictions between high technological development and public concern, especially over chemicals, are perhaps more keenly felt than anywhere on the planet ( Friends of the Earth, 2000, 2002; WWF, 2003). For those concerned about global sustainability this is fortunate; for the business, commercial and industrial sector it is a frustrating fact that encourages them to place (or just threaten to place) their investments outside of Europe. This dual-tension of sustainability–competition and integration–diversity, which is certainly not as acutely felt in the USA and Japan, is the background against which EU nanotechnologies are emerging.
