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Past research projects

Research project: Inventory of Agrifood Nanotechnology

Paper: Nanotechnology in Agriculture and Food Production

Jennifer Kuzma, Assistant Professor and Interim Director, CSTPP, Humphrey Institute

Funded by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

It is important to investigate the risk and benefit issues and governance systems for agrifood nanotechnology before numerous applications enter the marketplace, especially given past and present controversies over technology in agriculture and food, such as the use of genetically engineered organisms. It is also important to do so in an open and transparent way and in an independent setting (e.g. outside federal agencies and industry). Agricultural and food applications of new technologies pose a unique set of challenges. Individual benefits are often not as clear as those related to the use of technology in human medicine, and risks are often posed to sectors of society that do not directly benefit from the technology. We have developed a draft database of publicly available information on R&D projects in agrifood nanotechnology. Projects were categorized with respect to types of research (basic, applied, or development); projected time to commercialization; techniques, topics, and research areas, as specified in a USDA report on agrifood nanotechnology ; sectors in the food supply chain; and their fit to well-accepted definitions of nanotechnology. Four databases (USDA-CRIS, PTO, EPA-Science Inventory, NSF Awards) and five government websites (NIH, DOD, DOE, DHS, FDA) were searched for projects active during the years 2000 through 2005. Projects were also evaluated for exposure endpoints of potential products and possible toxicity levels of the nanomaterials used. A relative risk and benefit ranking was performed. However, it should be emphasized that project evaluations are preliminary, and we are open to other interpretations of health and environmental safety issues associated with them. This inventory is important for many reasons, including future work on in-depth analyses of governance issues in agrifood nanotechnology. The inventory and the paper outlining the results of the inventory will be released in February 2006. The paper resulting from this research is shown above.

Research project: Survey and Assessment of Agrifood Nanotechnology

Jennifer Kuzma, CSTPP
Kenneth Keller, CSTPP
Peter VerHage, MS Student, Humphrey Institute

Anne Kapuscinski, Professor and Director, Institute for Social, Economic, and Ecological Sustainability

Funded by the Consortium on Law and Values in the Health, Environment, & Life Sciences

Our preliminary work has uncovered many projects in agrifood nanotechnology covering a wide spectrum of applications. We will develop criteria for selecting case studies for subsequent risk/benefit and governance analyses. Case studies will be chosen to span a range of topics, research areas and techniques. They will also be selected to span a range of safety issues. Other selection criteria could include the likelihood of entering the marketplace in the near future, availability of data and information on the case, reflection of larger social or economic issues, and magnitude of possible benefits.

Once case studies are chosen, we will identify and categorize the potential human health and environmental risks and benefits. Case studies will be used to consider the following questions: 1) Are there current regulatory or non-regulatory governance systems that cover the proposed applications or products? 2) If so, what are they? Do these systems address the risk and benefit issues identified in phase II? If so, how? If not, what are the gaps? What are other strengths and weaknesses of existing systems? 3) If there are no current systems in place for the products or the issues, what are the possibilities under existing legal or organizational frameworks?

Research project: CO2 Emissions Reduction Scenarios for the Upper Midwest

Ken Keller CSTPP
Kabby Jones, MS Student, Humphrey Institute
Brendan Jordan, MS Student, Humphrey Institute

Funded by the Initiative on Renewable Energy and the Environment

The goal of this project is to evaluate the resources in Upper Midwest region that could be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80% from1990 levels by 2050. There are a breadth of technologies and practices that can reduce net emissions, including cleaner utilization of conventional energy, increased use of the region's large renewable energy resources, increased efficiency and conservation, and changes in land-use patterns and practices. This project will consider the economics of reducing emissions through a variety of routes, and integrate them into a flexible dynamic modeling framework that allows for the creation of a variety of scenarios. The model will allow researchers and policy-makers to better understand the costs of climate change mitigation at the regional level, and suggest policy choices for solving this problem with the most benefits and lowest costs to the region.