Nanoethics Group Tackles Dangers in Nanotechnology

The Nanoethics Group today officially launched as a non-partisan think tank to study the societal, ethical and policy implications of nanotechnology – or the manipulation of molecule-sized materials to create new products. Driven by public anxiety and a lack of information in this area, the research group will tackle a broad range of unanswered and troubling questions about the new science, from terrorism to health concerns and more.

Scientists predict that the new science will profoundly affect modern life, much as the Industrial Revolution has. Nanotechnology is an entirely new way to think about manufacturing – such as building things from the ground up, one atom at a time – and is expected to give us such products as digital monitors that are as flexible as plastic wrap, and in the distant future, even steak without the cow. However, as business and investors rush to capitalize on the trend, few have paused to think about the implications of the brave new science.

“If we had given foresight to how the invention or discovery of electricity, factories, automobiles, nuclear power and the Internet might affect people and society, we might have done a much better job in managing their negative consequences – such as economic disruption, urban sprawl, pollution, nuclear arms race and high-tech crimes,” explained Patrick Lin, Ph.D., research director for The Nanoethics Group. “Today, we find ourselves in a unique position to learn from our past, and we now understand the critical need to make predictions about nanotechnology’s future in order to guard against possible catastrophes in advance.”

Industry groups and the broader public have been calling for such a study, with the media picking up on this building crescendo. In the past few weeks, a study entitled “Informed Public Perceptions of Nanotechnology and Trust in Government” by Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars found that approximately 40% of concerns expressed by survey participants focused on three key areas: true unknowns, regulation and human health risks. Other concerns identified include: environmental effects, privacy, military uses, “playing God”, social upheaval and more.

The Nanoethics Group will address important issues such as these and help educate the public, which is still largely unfamiliar with the new science and how it might affect their lives for better or worse. Some of the scenarios to be explored include:

● Terrorism: Radical groups can use nanotech as new, unimaginable forms of torture, such as disassembling a person at the molecular level or worse. How do we prevent this abuse, if we can at all?

● Privacy: As products shrink in size, eavesdropping devices too can become invisible to the naked eye, more mobile and even implantable in our bodies without our knowledge. What are the privacy issues at stake?

● Health: Artificial red blood cells might continue to deliver oxygen in the event of a heart attack. In an athlete, it would boost performance. Like steroids, should we regulate nanotech if used for human enhancement versus healing purposes?

Visit www.nanoethics.org.