NANOPARTICLES of various substances are finding their way into more and more products, ranging from sunscreens to computer chips, CDs and DVDs. In some circumstances, loose nanoparticles can be harmful if they get into the lungs or onto the skin (New Scientist, 7 August, p 5). So do we need special laws to protect us?
Patricia Hewitt, secretary of state for trade and industry, tells me that the safety of nanotechnology is a key matter, and something that the government had asked the UK鈥檚 Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering to consider. In particular, it commissioned them to look at the health, safety, ethical, environmental and societal implications of nanotechnology.
In their report, the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering say that at present the UK and European Union鈥檚 regulatory frameworks are broad enough to cover nanotechnologies, and that separate regulations are not needed. But some of the present regulations may need modifying, they warn.
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The relevant government departments are now working together to review the report鈥檚 recommendations, and a government response will follow later this year, Hewitt said. I am now advised that this important area should be 鈥渃larified鈥� by November.
DURING a recent parliamentary question session in the House of Commons, MPs focused on various aspects of education. I was greatly impressed by an upbeat response from David Milliband the school standards minister. Patrick Mercer, MP for Newark and Retford, and the opposition spokesman for homeland security, had asked Milliband what progress had been made in implementing the Department for Education and Skills鈥� very positive response to the Making Mathematics Count inquiry into post-14 mathematics education, by a committee chaired by Adrian Smith, principal of Queen Mary, University of London.
Milliband said that the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority had begun work on the recommendations. Pay review for senior maths teachers is in the offing. There are to be increased training bursaries, and 鈥渉ello incentives鈥� for maths teachers. But England is still short of at least 3500 specialist teachers. The good news is that more pupils took GCSE maths this year, and did better at it. Milliband pointed to the 152 schools that specialise in maths and computing.
Apparently, from what the minister said, there has been a marked rise, both among those interested in initial teacher training, and in the graduate teacher programme, which brings people into teaching mid-career.
In my opinion, this development is hugely important, partly because those who have come from a job in industry, or the armed forces, tend to impress pupils, who can suss out teachers who have simply crossed from one side of the desk to the other, via university or training college.
