Upstream oversight for agrifood nanotechnology : a case studies approach

This article describes a proposed method to assess the oversight issues associated with the use of nanotechnology in agriculture and food production. Upstream oversight assessment seeks to anticipate teh types and features of emerging applications, their endpoints of use in society, the extent to wich users, workers, ecosystems, or consumers will be exposed, the nature of the matieral and its safety, wheter and where the the technologies might fit into current oversight systems, in light of these novel applications, and the possible societal concerns related to oversight for them. The authors describe this novel approach, as well as how it will help policymakers deal with the complicated convergent applications of agrifood nanotechnology.