esTing doses? environmenTalhealTh sTakesassociaTed wiTh nanoTechnologies

Abstract

In this contribution, we analyse how nanoscience and nanotechnology have given birth to an important
environmental health controversy regarding the potential sanitary dangers of engineered nanomaterials. We show
how this controversy is part of a larger picture, made of a series of social and scientific disputes about the effects
of man made chemicals on the human body. We show how these disputes have contributed throughout the 20th
century to the emergence and the transformation of toxicology as a scientific field, and to test the robustness of
the dose paradigm that constitues the cornerstone of this discipline. We suggest that the contemporary emergence
of a new scientific field known as “nanotoxicolgy” must be interpreted as a successful adaptation of this paradigm
to the specific toxicological questions raised by engineered nanomaterials.