Nanowerk is reporting that the International Standards Organization (ISO) completed its first step in developing standards for nanotechnology regulation. The definitions are revealed in ISO/TS 27687:2008, Nanotechnologies – Terminology.
The three main materials covered by this first set of definitions and terminology are:
- Nanoparticle;
- Nanofibre; and
- Nanoplate.
ISO expects this release to be the first of a series of standards for definitions and terms related to the nanotechnology sector.
Because ISO sells the standards it releases (56 CHF (Swiss Francs), about 51USD), publishing the definitions and other portions of the release would be inappropriate here. However, it is encouraging to see the first results of ISO’s three year (and counting) effort to establish standards for the sector. As we’ve opined before, meaningful regulation cannot occur without a standardized set of definitions and language. However, the release of additional definitions now begins to raise the next question/problem: resolving the competing standards in an effort to have standardization in the sector in order to provide certainty when regulation begins.
