N° 3 - Salute per tutti

Figure 12.
Finland
Figure 13.
United States
Sweden
Denmark
Taiwan
Singapore
Iceland
Switzerland
Norway
Australia
Netherlands
Japan
Great Britain
Competitiveness classification
2004 2005 2004 2005
1
2
3
5
4
7
10
8
6
14
12
9
11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Canada
Germany
Portugal
Ireland
Spain
France
Jordan
Greece
Botswana
China
India
15 14
13 15
24 22
30 26
23 29
27 30
35 45
37 46
Italy 47 47
45 48
46 49
55 50
art information technology will step up our
ability to quickly perceive, understand and
process complex messages that are hard to
interpret.
arketing nano-structured
M products
The ability to market nano-structured
products will depend on the ability of companies
to produce and control this new class of
products, meeting the needs of both man and
the environment, on the ability of governments
to regulate their production and use quickly
Nanostructured products: technology and future
and effectively, and on the ability of the products
themselves to meet the needs and expectations
of consumers.
That is why it is necessary for all these nanoproducts
to be designed and sold in a way that
fully respects the health of consumers and the
environment; in other words, they must be bio
and ecocompatible.
In order to reach these objectives, industries
must create new plants, investing the necessary
capital, while governments must support adequately
and with rapid decisions these industrial
efforts also by introducing new services.
On the other hand, both industries and the
Italian government should significantly increase
investments in research and development to
keep pace with more virtuous European countries
and with the US (Figure 12). In fact, Italy
must be more competitive at the international
level to maintain the level of wellbeing reached
by its citizens (Figure 13).
isks/benefits of nanoproducts
R
Any production process that generates
profit inevitably entails risks and benefits.
Naturally, this also applies to all nanostructured
processes. When assessing the risks/benefits of
these new chemical structures, the products
must be distinguished according to two main
categories: nanoderivatives present in nature
and manmade ones.
It is therefore necessary to determine whether
they can be absorbed through the skin or
mucosae, controlling their possible topical
and/or systemic toxicity; needless to say, this
should be done after studying their physicalchemical
properties, such as for instance: (a)
the state of distribution of the single nanoparticles;
(b) the state of agglomeration and size of
their crystal structure; (c) the composition and
chemical features of the developed surface; (d)
the electrical charges present in their structure;
and (e) their possible porosity.
Synthetic nanostructures include, for instance,
fullerene which, depending on whether or not
it includes OH groups in its structure, displays
completely different chemical/physical properties
and behaviours, also developing a different
tendency for transcutaneous penetration.
Another example of a product “created” in the
lab is the carbon nanotube which is also used in
the biomedical field.
Journal of Plastic Dermatology 2008; 4, 3
257