ABSTRACT
Popular demand for some type of nanotechnology regulation has caused a rethinking of the role in society played by regulatory governance of risk and risk management programs. A unique feature of emerging nanotechnology regulatory frameworks is their transnational collaboration, both within the European Union (EU) and inside privately funded nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). With forty seven member nations, embracing eight hundred million people, the Council of Europe (CoE) views its role as the health and human rights vanguard for law governing the right to health and consumer protection throughout Europe. The CoE's medicrime convention is the first international agreement to define acts of counterfeiting medicine as a crime under international law. The hierarchy of engineering controls that has been traditionally recognized by safety engineers, industrial hygienists, and a variety of allied health professionals internationally remains the cornerstone of best practices.
