LamprouMemo15

Memo 15 “Good Standard” Standards are the measures by which products, processes and producers are judged. And if we view the issue from a technical side, that of regulation and organization, there is nothing else that can be said in a discussion on standards. But standards and their development cannot be viewed as just a technical issue anymore. Standards are procedures which engage technical aspects and processes but at the same time moral, social, economic, and power aspects. Standards not only frame technoscientific products and procedures they define ways of acting and living, they provide us with order and discipline. Now the question is whose order and whose discipline. GNOs and Civil Society Organizations have a different idea of what a good standard is than probably the industry and governments. Standardization poses different priorities for different stakeholders, even for different political cultures. “Nano” Imagine a word just a word changing the meaning of a whole science, scientific procedures, and material production. The definition of “nano” is a central issue in standards development in the case of nanotechnology. The definition of “nano” is important because it creates a boundary between nano and non nano materials and as a result ascribes to materials new promising properties but at the same time environmental and health risks and unknowns, creates opportunities for ascribing patents and commercial uses, and gives the scientists and official language to communicate and classify. But at the same time it distinguishes between good and bad science, good and bad scientists. “Harmonization” Harmonization processes is what characterizes recent policies. In a global reality all the countries that are engaged or want to be engaged to the global trade and market have to have common standards. The harmonization in the case of nanotechnology is the spot where in order for common policies to be developed various debate and different approaches have to be resolved. Power issues that can be identified are of great interest.