COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT: Design a Nano-Hazard Symbol
ETC Group announces International Graphic Design Competition
CALL FOR ENTRIES

Biotechnology, nuclear power, toxic chemicals, electromagnetic 
radiation -- each of these technological hazards has a universally 
recognized warning symbol associated with it. So why not 
nanotechnology -- the world's most powerful (and potentially 
dangerous) technology?

Concerned citizens everywhere are invited to submit their designs for 
a universal Nanotechnology Hazard Symbol at:  http://www.etcgroup.org/
nanohazard

Entries will be judged by a panel of eminent judges convened by the 
ETC Group (Action Group on Erosion Technology and Concentration, 
www.etcgroup.org). These judges include Dr. Vyvyan Howard (Editor of 
the Journal of Nanotoxicity), Dr. Gregor Wolbring (The Canadian 
Advisory Commitee on Nanotech Standardisation), Chee Yoke Ling (Third 
World Network), Claire Pentecost (Associate Professor and Chair of 
the Photography Department at the School of the Art Institute of 
Chicago), Rory O'Neill (Editor of Hazards magazine) and Dr. Alexis 
Vlandas (Nanotechnology Spokesperson for International Network of 
Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility). Entries will 
also be judged by participants at the World Social Forum, Nairobi, 
Kenya, 20-25 January 2007.

The winning entry will be submitted to international standard-setting 
bodies responsible for hazard characterisation, to international 
governmental organisations and to national governments as a proposed 
symbol for nanotechnology hazards.

Closing date: 8 January 2007

A gallery of entries submitted will be available at http://
www.etcgroup.org/gallery2/v/nanohazard/

Why Do We Need a Nano-Hazard Symbol?

Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the tiny level of atoms 
and molecules, has created a new class of materials with unusual 
properties and new toxicities.

It used to be that nanotechnology was the stuff of science fiction. 
Today, however, there are over one thousand nanotechnology companies 
worldwide. Nanoparticles, nanotubes and other engineered 
nanomaterials are already in use in hundreds of everyday consumer 
products, raising significant health, safety and environmental 
concerns. Nanoparticles are able to move around the body and the 
environment more readily than larger particles of pollution. Because 
of their extremely small size and large surface area nanoparticles 
may be more reactive and more toxic than larger particles of the same 
substance. They have been compared to asbestos by leading insurance 
companies who worry their health impact could lead to massive claims. 
At least one US-based insurance company has canceled coverage of 
small companies involved with nanotechnology. Unlike more familiar 
forms of pollution arising from new technologies, nano-hazards 
(potentially endangering consumers, workers and the environment) have 
yet to be fully characterized, regulated or even subject to safety 
testing. The US Food and Drug Administration will have its first 
public meeting about regulating nanomaterials on October 10, 2006. 
Most governments worldwide have yet to even begin thinking about nano-
regulation. Nonetheless, nanoparticles invisible to the naked eye are 
already in foods, cosmetics, pesticides and clothing without even 
being labelled. Every day laboratory and factory workers could be 
inhaling and ingesting nanoparticles while the rest of us may be 
unwittingly putting them on our skin, in our body or in the
environment.

It's not just a safety question. Nanotechnology also raises new 
societal hazards: The granting of patents on nano-scale materials and 
processes, and even elements of the periodic table, allows for 
increased corporate power and monopoly over the smallest parts of 
nature. Some designer nanomaterials may come to replace natural 
products such as cotton, rubber and metals -- displacing the 
livelihoods of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the 
world.  In the near future the merger of nanotechnology with 
biotechnology (in nano-biotechnology applications such as synthetic 
biology) will lead to new designer organisms, modified at the 
molecular level, posing new biosafety threats. Nano-enabled 
technologies also aim to 'enhance' human beings and 'fix' the 
disabled, a goal that raises troubling ethical issues and the specter 
of a new divide between the technologically "improved" and
"unimproved."

ETC Group has called for a moratorium on nanoparticle production and 
release to allow for a full societal debate and until such time as 
precautionary regulations are in place to protect workers, consumers 
and the environment. Standard setting bodies around the world are now 
scrambling to agree on nomenclature that can describe nanoparticles 
and nanomaterials. A common, internationally-recognized symbol 
warning of the presence of engineered nanomaterials is equally overdue.

For a short and simple introduction to Nanotechnology see "A Tiny 
Primer on Nano-scale Technologies," available online:  http://
www.etcgroup.org/en/materials/publications.html?id=55


Details Of The Competition:

We are asking concerned people everywhere (including artists, 
designers, scientists, students, regulators and members of the 
public) to submit possible designs for an international Nano-Hazard 
warning symbol that could be used to identify the presence of 
nanmoaterials. This symbol could, for example, be placed on products 
containing nanomaterials, in laboratories or factories where workers 
handle nanoparticles, or on containers transporting nanomaterials. 
The symbol should be simple,  easy to recognize and communicate 
clearly the new, potential hazards that result when matter is 
manipulated at the nanoscale (1 billionth of a metre -- the size of 
atoms and molecules).

We encourage participants to be as creative as possible in inventing 
a new nano-hazard symbol. Images can be designed on computer or by 
hand, scanned, photographed or otherwise rendered in 2 dimensions -- 
either using colour or in black and white. Entries will be judged on 
their conceptual as well as artistic merit. Descriptions and 
explanations accompanying the entries will be very welcome.

For examples of existing hazard warning symbols for comparison see 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazard_symbol

Participants can submit as many different entries as they wish. Each 
entry should be submitted seperately. Entries can be submitted in one 
of 3 ways:
1) Upload electronically using the upload form at http://
www.etcgroup.org/nanohazard
2) Email as a jpeg or gif file to nanohazard@...
3) Send by post to Nano-Hazard Competition, ETC Group, 431 Gilmour 
Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 0R5. Canada

Please include your name, country and a contact email or postal
address.

All submitted entries will be treated as non-copyright and in the 
public domain unless the submitter wishes to place them under a 
creative commons license allowing free non-commercial use (see 
details here http://www.creativecommons.org). Entries submitted with 
copyright conditions (other than creative commons) will not be 
considered. Entries sent by post will not be returned.

The closing date for entries is 8th January 2007.

Judging will be in two parts:

Judging Panel: A selection of entries will first be made by a panel 
of eminent judges chosen by the ETC Group.
This panel includes:
Dr. Vyvyan Howard, Founding editor of the Journal of Nanotoxicology.
Dr. Gregor Wolbring, The Canadian Advisory Commitee on Nanotech 
Standardisation.
Chee Yoke Ling, Legal Advisor, Third World Network.
Claire Pentecost, Artist, Writer, Associate Professor and Chair of 
the Photography Department at the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago
Rory O Neill, Editor of Hazards (trade union workplace safety
magazine).
Dr. Alexis Vlandas, Nanotechnology spokesperson for International 
Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility.

Public Judging: The selected entries will then be displayed at the 
World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya (20- 25 January 2007) for civil 
society attendees to judge. We also encourage everyone to view the 
gallery of submitted artwork online and submit comments there.


More Information:

For a short introduction to nanotechnology see:  "A Tiny Primer on 
Nano-scale Technologies" available online:  http://www.etcgroup.org/
en/materials/publications.html?id=55

For an introduction to the toxicity of nanoscale materials see the 
following resources:

"Size Matters" (2003), an ETC Occasional Paper which includes an 
appendix by Dr Vyvyan Howard, Founding Editor of the Journal of 
Nanotoxicology: http://www.etcgroup.org/upload/publication/165/01/
occ.paper_nanosafety.pdf

ETC Group's 2004 Communique, 'Nano's Troubled Waters'   http://
www.etcgroup.org/upload/publication/116/01/gt_troubledwater_april1.pdf

A May 2006 report on nanotechnology in sunscreens and cosmetics by 
Friends of the Earth: http://www.foe.org/camps/comm/nanotech/

A recent scientific evaluation of nanoscale hazards by the European 
Commission's highest level scientific committee on toxicity, The 
Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks: 
http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_risk/committees/04_scenihr/
scenihr_cons_01_en.htm

A comprehensive overview (2004) of nanoparticle toxicity, "Small 
Matter, Many Unknowns" by Swiss Re, the world's second largest re-
insurance company: http://www.swissre.com/INTERNET/pwsfilpr.nsf/
vwFilebyIDKEYLu/ULUR-5YNGET/$FILE/Publ04_Nanotech_en.pdf

Take Action:

The US Food and Drug Administration is holding its first-ever public 
hearing to discuss regulatory issues related to nanotechnology on 
October 10, 2006. Despite the fact that the US government spends 
approximately $1 billion per year on nanotech R&D and hundreds of 
consumer products are already on the market, the US government spends 
a paltry $11 million per year on nanotechnology related risk research 
(1.1% of the total budget). Go here for details: http://
www.nanotechproject.org/80/nanotechnology-development-suffers-from-
lack-of-risk-research-plan

In May 2006 ETC Group joined the International Center for Technology 
Assessment, Friends of the Earth and other consumer health and 
environmental groups in a legal petition challenging FDA's failure to 
regulate health and environmental threats from nanomaterials 
currently used in consumer products.  The full petition and an 
executive summary are available here:   http://www.icta.org/nanotech/
index.cfm

You can send electronic comments to the FDA asking them to properly 
control, regulate and label nanomaterials. An online form is 
available to help you do this via The Center for Food Safety.  Go to: 
http://ga3.org/campaign/Nano
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