Assessing a national nanotechnology infrastructure for enforcing nanosafety in consumer food - Funding the infrastructure

Crucial to assessing any national risk assessment infrastructure is the development of keen insights into the funding landscape, the base skill set and expertise levels, risk prioritisation, and stakeholder determination. This paper presents an overview of the first of these criteria with respect to the Irish funding landscape for nanotechnology and nano-agri-food. It examines difficulties with policy enforcement due to a lack of clarity and varying interpretations of the EU definition of nanomaterials and how the funding landscape could potentially facilitate the necessary infrastructure, to underpin regulatory enforcement and risk assessment for nanotechnology in food. In 2008 an assessment of the potential risks associated with nanotechnologies was carried out in Ireland which resulted in a number of recommendations centred around the provision of funding. This study examines Exchequer/public investment over the last decade to develop research infrastructure and it identifies if such investment has helped enhance the enforcement of nano-food safety legislation in Ireland.