ABSTRACT
The last chapter sums up the findings of the book. It offers a condensed list of arguments on the main shortcomings and loopholes of the REACH model, which will most likely continue to hinder the ability of the regulation to ensure a high level of protection for chemicals in nanoscale, even when the nano-specific amendments to the Annexes come into force in 2020. This is so, Chapter 8 argues, because neither a change of the law without a change in the scientific models and paradigms underpinning it, nor the change of such scientific models and paradigms without the law understanding and effectively using science, is going to bring any significant improvement to the current regulation of nanosubstances in REACH and beyond.
In line with the interpretation of precaution as Care, Chapter 8 advocates for the creation of a new theory of responsibility for regulators legislating on potentially catastrophic risks. Using Hans Jonas’s ideas on the new imperative of responsibility, the chapter and the book as a whole call for new ethical principles to guide regulatory measures in the (nano)technological age.
