May, 2007
Maki Iatridis, a partner in the Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti LLP Environmental Practice Group will be presenting a CLE on "Nanotechnology", Tuesday, April 24 at the Boulder Cork. You may sign up with a credit card online at www.boulder-bar.org, or call Lynne Barnett of the Boulder County Bar Association at 303.440.4758.
Nanotechnologys small size makes it a big deal for our economy. Nanotechnology is projected to be a $1 trillion market in 2015 and grow 74% by 2008. Nanotechnology is common in our everyday lives, although most of us don't know it. Cars, cosmetics, sports equipment, clothes, furniture, fuel, sunscreen, pharmaceuticals, and other everyday products contain nanomaterials. With Boulder County hosting one-third of Colorados nanotechnology companies, the new technology poses new challenges and issues for the business community. Addressing nanotechnology issues in operations and transactions requires new ways of thinking about traditional issues of liability, contracts, measuring chemical substances, risk management, and due diligence for transactions.
Nanotechnology is the science of intentionally manipulating extremely small particles between 1 and 100 nanometers. Nanomaterials can perform novel and unique functions due to their unique properties. Nanotechnology improves fuel efficiency, drinking water treatment, sensors to detect weapons, electronic devices, and many other functions. One of the important issues for nanotechnology is the environmental, health and safety risks. There are not many studies proving what their risks are. Moreover, the existing regulatory programs for environmental, health and safety were not necessarily designed to cover nanoscale materials, leaving uncertainty as to whether these materials are regulated and, if so, how they are to be regulated.
This program focuses on how to address these issues without killing the golden goose.