A new report from the UK Environment Agency has been published, “A people’s inquiry on nanotechnology and the environment”
They have certainly spent a great deal of time and effort educating a carefully selected group “of 13 people from East London who knew very little about nanotechnology”. This group then debated the issue of environmental clean-up using nanoparticles. Amazingly – the 13 people from East London concluded similar things that were concluded before by groups of scientists.
The report concludes that “early engagement can add value to the work of the Environment Agency” – although how you can draw conclusions from an interaction with one group of selected individuals from one area in the UK and then extrapolate this to be relevant to engaging “the public” is a mystery to me!