The ethics and politics of nanotechnology
8 August 2006
Paris,
France. UNESCO has published a report that assesses the ethical, legal and
political aspects of nanotechnology. It attempts to separate the realistic
potential of nanotechnology from some of the more fanciful headline-grabbing
claims. It outlines what the science of nanotechnology is, and presents some
of the issues facing the international community in the near future.
Chapters cover the current status of nanotechnology and where nanotechnology
will intersect with existing policy issues and ethical dilemmas. It assesses
the top ten applications of nanotechnology and lists their relationship to
the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The report says that the most pressing current issues are toxicity and
exposure to humans and the environment. This produces ethical issues due to
the new forms of hazard or exposure risks, which create new questions about
how to deal with them. Current means of risk assessment do "not address any
wider issues of the ethical or political meaning of this risk — such as who
will bear it, how it will be distributed internationally, and who will be
given the power to make decisions based on these analyses." It covers
measures in the EU and the USA to deal with safety aspects and lists the
twelve recommendations from from the European Commission’s Consumer
Protectorate Directive.
Under ethical issues, the report highlights the potential use and abuse
of scientific information by governments and organisations. It sees the
over-liberal granting of patents as a current problem "which can curtail
even the most innocuous basic research by introducing
prohibitive costs". It particular, it warns about business-method patents,
which are "a good example of overzealous expansionism in intellectual
property". These patents give broad rights to corporations that convert
established processes into computerised processes — such as online auctions
and online shopping.
A short section covers "ethical issues that aren't" such as the "grey
goo" scare of recent years. The report urges policy-makers, elected and
appointed officials, non-governmental and advocacy organizations to look
beyond these distractions and concentrate on the most pressing issues, which
include potential hazards, consumer
awareness, product regulation, intellectual property, secrecy, the
reliability and legitimacy of international scientific research, and,
most importantly, the promotion of uses for nanotechnology
that help solve the most pressing needs for the greatest number of people.
The report can be downloaded (as a PDF file) from:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001459/145951e.pdf
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