I welcome the report from the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee into nanotechnology, which was chaired by Lord Krebs, a former Chair of the Agency. New and emerging technologies can bring about risks as well as benefits for consumers, so what we need is open debate, not dogma. Our priority in the FSA is protecting consumer interests, so I fully support the need to develop a research capability in the UK so that we can assess the potential effects of nanomaterials on health; we're working with other research funding bodies to co-ordinate the necessary research.
One of the recommendations in the report is that it would be useful to have a public register of nano-derived foods. I agree it would be useful to have this and we would be happy to coordinate it, but it will require openness and cooperation from the food industry and support from consumer groups to ensure that any register provides the information that consumers need. If you have any views you'd like to add to the debate, I'd be interested in hearing them.