Nanotechnology - technology at the molecular level - is held out by many as the Holy Grail for creating a trillion dollar economy and solving problems from curing cancer to reprocessing waste into products and building superfast computers. Yet, as with GMOs, many view nanotech as a high risk genie in a bottle that once uncorked has the potential to cause unpredictable, perhaps irreversible, environmental and public health disasters. With the race to bring products to market, there is pressing need to take stock of the situation and to have a full public debate about this new technological frontier. Including contributions by renowned figures such as Roland Clift, K. Eric Drexler and Arpad Pusztai, this is the first global overview of the state of nanotech and society in Europe, the USA, Japan and Canada, examining the ethics, the environmental and public health risks, and the governance and regulation of this most promising, and potentially most dangerous, of all technologies.
Here again, there is an opportunity to get this right the rst time. The potential payo in terms of reduced risks and increased market and public acceptance will almost certainly greatly exceed the investment necessary to draw these important voices into the discussion. The rapid commercialization of nanotechnology, coupled with the potential risks from at least certain nanomaterials as demonstrated in initial studies, lend urgency to the need for government and industry to direct more of their investments in nanotechnology development toward identifying the potential risks and addressing them. Government and industry have done a great job so far in accentuating nanotechnologys potential up sides and in accelerating its development, but they have yet to come to terms with their equally critical roles in identifying and avoiding the down sides. A far better balance between these two roles must be struck if nanotechnology is to deliver on its promise
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Getting Nanotechnology Right the First Time 139 without delivering unintended adverse consequences. With the right mix of increased risk research, improved regulatory oversight, self initiated corporate standards, and inclusive stakeholder engagement, we have the opportunity to get nanotechnology right the rst time. Notes 1 Environmental Defense: this is an American national nonprot organization representing more than 400,000 members. Since 1967 it has worked towards innovative, equitable and cost-eective solutions to societys most urgent environmental problems. A bibliography of references and abstracts of risk-related research studies on nanomaterials is available at www.environmentaldefense.org/go/nano.
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2 Nabholz, J. V. (1991) Environmental hazard and risk assessment under the United States Toxic Substances Control Act, Science of the Total Environment, vol 109110, pp649665. The Toxic Substances Control Act 1976 is summarized at www.epa.gov/region5/defs/html/tsca.htm. TSCA was enacted by US Congress to give EPA the ability to track the 75,000 industrial chemicals currently produced or imported into the United States. EPA repeatedly screens these chemicals and can require reporting or testing of those that may pose an environmental or human-health hazard. EPA can ban the manufacture and import of those chemicals that pose an unreasonable risk (see also Chapter 12). 12 Risk Management and Regulation in an Emerging Technology Roland Clift
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Nanotechnology the use of particulate material at such a small scale that its properties are determined by size and surface condition as well as bulk properties has been heralded as oering the potential to revolutionize many industrial sectors and medical practices. Nanotechnology also presents problems in managing risks to human health and the environment which are explored here, drawing on the report of a Working Group set up by the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering, in the UK. Taking an anticipatory approach to assessing the benets and regulating the risks from an emerging technology is itself novel (European Commission, 2004b). Very little is known about the risks to human health and the environment from nanomaterials, so that a precautionary approach is advocated. Stopping short of the moratorium on production and use of nanomaterials advocated by some non-governmental organizations (NGOs), restrictions on the technology are recommended including regulating nano
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