A new rule for the European Cosmetic Legislation will enforce the declaration of ingredients made using nano technology. This means that all ingredients made from solids using nano technology will be followed by "(nano)" on the ingredients list. We will all be able to spot it and decide if we want it or not. Big progress in transparency...
Nano technology is very much a grey area and as a green consumer and a chemist I have mixed feelings about it because the physical/chemical behaviour changes when a particle is reduced to such a small size (1-100 nano meters or 10 to minus nine meters, we are talking cells size here). For example nano titanium is inert in normal conditions, but when finely grinded to nano size it can promote the formation of free radicals (pro-aging devils). Some manufacturers are aware of that and take precautions by combining it with antioxidants to quench the free radicals, however this finding has come out recently and it takes time to know the dark side and to find solutions. Because this is still virgin land I do hope that the companies exploring these territories will take the best precautions they can, not only investigating how far they penetrate into the skin but also their chemical behaviour going beyond the required tests by the law.
I do see the potential of nano ingredients allowing products innovation (the market is always thirsty of it), I do not want to condemn it at all, I will assume a case by case position, looking at each individual ingredient, after all the devil is in the detail...
