title: [Testing doses? Environmental health stakes associated 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.
authors.affiliation: Centre de sociologie des organisations, CNRS/Sciences-Po Paris.
authors.forename: Jean-Noël
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Jouzel
mesh_terms: D054750:Ecotoxicology; D004782:Environmental Health; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D036103:Nanotechnology