European Parliament votes on measure to regulate food nanotechnology
Members of the European Parliament’s environment, public health and food safety committee have voted to control the use of nanotechnologies in foods for humans. The proposed measure entirely excluded entry onto European Union (“EU”) markets of any food derived from cloned animals as well as food produced by nanotechnology processes, unless such food has undergone a specific risk assessment regarding possible impact on health. Those risk assessment methods must also have been approved for use, i.e., not imply the use of vertebrate animals for testing. The measure also required all ingredients containing nanomaterials to be clearly labeled by listing the names of the ingredients followed by the word 'nano' in brackets. A definition of nanomaterials was included in the proposed text as: “nanomaterial means an intentionally manufactured material with one or more external dimensions or an internal structure, of order of 100 nm or less.” The new regulation can only be adopted after co-decision by both the European Parliament and Members States and must be endorsed by the whole parliament in July.
