Nanotechnology is a powerful new technology for taking apart and reconstructing nature at the atomic and molecular level. It is being touted as the basis of the next industrial revolution and will be used to transform and construct a wide range of new materials, devices, technological systems and even living organisms. Nanotechnology will likely underpin and impact all industries and sectors of the economy, and is likely to facilitate far-reaching changes in social, economic and ecological relations. Opinion is sharply divided regarding whether these changes will be largely positive or negative.
Proponents suggest that nanotechnology will deliver gains in fields as diverse as manufacturing, medicine, environmental remediation and military applications. However critics argue that nanotechnology introduces serious new risks to human health and the environment, raises problematic ethical issues and is likely to result in large-scale socioeconomic disruption.
Governments are beginning to recognize the need for new laws to protect workers, the public and the environment from the risks of nanotoxicity. However despite the commercial availability of over 720 products containing nanomaterials, not a single government worldwide has yet introduced regulations that require nanomaterials to be subject to new safety assessments prior to commercial release. The failure of government regulators to take seriously the early warning signs surrounding nanotoxicity suggests that they have learnt nothing from any of the long list of disasters that resulted from the failure to respond to early warning signs about previous perceived "wonder" materials (like asbestos, DDT and PCBs).
Nanotechnology is being commercialized largely outside of general public awareness or debate, and without any serious attempt to involve the community in decision making about its introduction. Issues of ethics, democracy and nanotechnology’s broader socio-economic impacts have yet to register in the debate.
