Nov. 18, 2004 – The Nanotechnology Standards Panel of the American National Standards Institute has released a series of recommendations that it believes have the most urgent need for standardization within the emerging field.

The recommendations, which it terms “useful, voluntary consensus standards,” identify topics to be the most urgent within a year. They include a definition of nanotechnology, terminology for materials composition, environmental impact and test methods. Manufacturing and modeling are among the items that are included for standards consideration within five years, according to a news release.

The recommendations grew out of the panel’s first meeting in September. Nearly 100 representatives from industry, government and academia gathered to discuss the issue of coordination and voluntary standards.