SAFENANO:Where did we start?
The Safenano Initiative is a venture by the Institute of Occupational Medicine (
IOM
). The initiative was designed to help industrial and academic communities to quantify and control the risks to their workforce, as well as to consumers, the general population 
and the environment, through both information provision and consultancy services.
The Institute of Occupational Medicine is one of the UK's foremost promoters of responsible nanotechnology development, and possesses extensive experience concerning the potential risks from particles and fibres. A
combination of this expertise and state-of-art techniques allows the IOM to extend current knowledge and facilitate comparisons between existing substances and new nanoparticles.
The IOM is actively involved in advising government agencies such as
DEFRA
on the potential risks of nanotechnology to health, and management of these risks.
Recent reports include:
In addition to our extensive in-house expertise, Safenano has access to a multidisciplinary consortium of internationally recognised researchers through SnIRC - the Safety of Nanoparticles Interdisciplinary Research Centre. SnIRC was formed by the IOM in 2004 to address nanoparticle risk issues, and is based on long-standing collaborations between the IOM and Edinburgh, Aberdeen and NapierUniversities.
The combined expertise of the IOM and SnIRC provides the Safenano Initiative with a unique and extensive wealth of experience in particle toxicology, exposure, eco-toxicology and human studies/epidemiology.
A more in-depth background to the issues surrounding Nanotechnology Health and Safety can be found here.