Public Acceptance of Nanotechnology

Abstract

Nanotechnology is perceived as one of the key technologies of the 21^st century. This technology has a major potential to generate new products with numerous benefits. The development of nanotechnology, however, faces risks in terms of unintended economic, societal, and environmental impacts. In several studies, we examined public acceptance of nanotechnology. Consumers seem to be more hesitant to accept nanotechnology in the food domain compared with other domains. Results further suggest, that nanotechnology food packaging is assessed as less problematic than nanotechnology foods. Currently, there is no mandatory labeling for products containing synthetic nanoparticles. The public as well as other stakeholders have positive views toward mandatory labeling. Such labeling could have unintended side effects, however. Consumers may infer that a label is a signal that there are risks associated with this technology. The insights gained by public perception studies can be used for introducing nanotechnology in a sustainable way.

Biography of the Speaker

Michael Siegrist is a Professor for Consumer Behavior at the Institute for Environmental Decisions (IED), ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and a Privatdozent at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

He studied psychology, economics and mass communication at the University of Zurich. He worked as a research assistant at the Psychology Department of the University of Zurich. In 1994 he wrote his dissertation at the University of Zurich. During 1997-1998 he worked as a Project Manager at the Swiss Association of Milk Producers, Department of Marketing Research. During 1998-2000 he was a visiting researcher at Western Washington University, WA, USA (funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation). He returned back to the University of Zurich, and worked as a senior researcher. He was the principal investigator of several projects examining lay people’s risk perception. In 2001 he completed his ‘Habiliation’ at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zurich. Starting from 2004 he was also involved in research and teaching activities at the ETH Zurich.

Professor Siegrist has published numerous articles about risk perception, trust, risk communication and risk management. His work has been published in Risk Analysis, Journal of Risk Research, Human and Environmental Risk Assessment and other peer reviewed journals. Recently, he has been a  o-editor of the book “Trust in Cooperative Risk Management.” He is an  ssociate Area Editor of the Journal Risk Analysis. He also serves on the  ditorial boards of Human and Ecological Risk Assessment and Journal of Risk Research. His research focuses, at the moment, on gene technology, nuclear power, mobile communication, climate change issues and food hazards.