Berkeley Regulates Nanotechnology As Hazmat - Science and Technology

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Diploid
Cuban

Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole

Berkeley Regulates Nanotechnology As Hazmat

#6369047 - 12/14/06 03:10 AM (16 years, 3 months ago)

BERKELEY, Calif. - The Berkeley City Council approved the nation's only local nanotechnology regulations, another first for the city famous for taking the lead banning Styrofoam containers, desegregating public schools and divesting public funds from South Africa.

The council on Tuesday decided to amend its hazardous materials law to include nano-sized particles - some as small as one-millionth the width of the head of a pin. The change takes effect Friday.

The unanimous action compels researchers and manufacturers to report what nanotechnology materials they are working with and how they are handling them.

The aim of nanotechnology, in the commercial world, is to develop new products and materials by changing or creating components at the atomic and molecular level. But it's not clear if such materials could cause environmental and health problems.

The amendment has been two years in the works and was prompted by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's plans to launch a nanotechnology department called the Molecular Foundry.

City officials have said the amendment is mostly aimed at monitoring nanotechnology startups and small businesses, rather than the efforts at the national lab, which isn't subject to local regulations because it's governed by the Department of Energy.

The lab initially opposed the city's plans, but now it says it will work with Berkeley leaders.

"Since then, they have come a long way," said Nabil Al-Hadithy, the city's hazardous material manager. "We can now look at them to assist us because they have all the experts."

Al-Hadithy hopes Berkeley's new law will pave the way for other cities. "We're hoping others will use this format and duplicate it in health and safety codes around California," he said.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/16231305.htm

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1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you.
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3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer.

4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.

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Seuss
Error: divide byzero

Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 3 months, 15 days

Re: Berkeley Regulates Nanotechnology As Hazmat

[Re: Diploid]
#6369059 - 12/14/06 03:19 AM (16 years, 3 months ago)

Damn... so does this mean they get to dispose of all living people (and organisms) at Berkeley as hazardous waste? My body is full of nanomachines... aka proteins... scary to think that it might be illegal for me to be alive somewhere.

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Just another spore in the wind.