[Nettime-bold] The Dangers of Nanotech Particles

[Alle Dieren Vrij! <info@alledierenvrij.nl>]

The ETC Group announces the release of a new, 8-page Communique entitled, 
"No Small Matter: Nanotech Particles Penetrate Living Cells and Accumulate 
in Animal Organs."


Discussions of the potential dangers of nanotechnology (that is, 
manipulating matter on the scale of the nanometer, one billionth of a 
meter) have been carried out in the realm of theory or in the safe, 
fictional realm of Hollywood movies: will scientists someday be able to 
create self-assembling nanobots programmed to produce commercial goods and 
food and new forms of life?  What might happen if they do?  There has been 
virtually no discussion, however, of the potential danger of today's 
applied nanotechnology (that is, manipulating matter on the scale of the 
nanometer to produce useful materials)--until now.  Researchers have just 
begun to ask the most basic questions about the impact of new 
nano-materials on human health and the environment.  Evidence of 
nanoparticle contamination in living organisms and unanswered questions 
about potential dangers of new forms of carbon require urgent societal review.


The full text of "No Small Matter" is available on the ETC 
website:  http://www.etcgroup.org


Summary:


Issue:  At a mid-March fact-finding meeting at the US 
EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA), researchers reported that 
nanoparticles are showing up in the livers of research animals, can seep 
into living cells, and perhaps piggyback on bacteria to enter the food 
chain.  The commercial use of nanoscale carbon was likened to either "the 
next best thing to sliced bread or the next asbestos."  Despite these 
revelations, there is no regulatory body (and no plans for one)
dedicated to overseeing this potent and powerfully invasive new technology.


Context:  Touted as the greenest and greatest techno-fix ever, proponents 
claim that these atomic-scale manipulations will solve our
environmental woes and guarantee - not only sustainable, but perpetual - 
development.  Nanotechnology is the manipulation of
matter, working with elements in the Periodic Table (atoms and atom 
clusters [molecules] in the range of a nanometer [nm], one billionth
of a meter).  At the nanoscale, atoms function in the fabled realm of 
quantum physics, where ordinary elements can exhibit extraordinary
strength, temperature tolerance, colors, chemical reactivity, and 
electrical conductivity - characteristics inconceivable at micro or
macro scales.  Companies are already cranking out tons of commercial 
nanomaterials for use as catalysts, in cosmetics, paints, coatings,
fabrics, and to provide added strength.  Some of the materials are familiar 
compounds that have never before been marketed on the nanoscale; other 
materials are atomically-modified elements that do
not exist in nature.  Some new forms of carbon (a component of all living 
things) - called nanotubes and fullerenes  - are being manufactured for the 
first time and their impact on the environment
is unknown.


Implications:  Nanotechnology - including nanobiotechnology - has been 
pegged by industry and governments to become the world's largest
and fastest industrial revolution - dwarfing history's past technological 
upheavals.  More than 450 dedicated nanotech enterprises are already in the 
marketplace manufacturing a host of
"old-nano" products (e.g., particles used in cosmetics and sprays) and 
"new-nano" products (e.g., chips, sensors and new forms of
carbon).  Global R & D spending is at US$4 billion.  The US National 
Science Foundation predicts that within ten years the entire
semiconductor industry and half of the pharmaceutical industry will rely on 
nanotechnology and that, by 2015, the global market will be US$1 
trillion.  Industry will fight hard to make sure that health and 
environmental concerns do not derail the progress of nanotech, as has 
happened with biotech.


Policy:  Because nanotech generally works with the elemental building 
blocks of life - rather than with life directly - it has largely evaded 
social, political and regulatory scrutiny.  The US Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA) has thus far established no policies or protocols for 
considering the safety of nano-particles in products already on the 
market.  Given the concerns raised over nanoparticle contamination in 
living organisms, Heads of State attending the World Summit on Sustainable 
Development in Johannesburg (Aug. 26-Sept. 4, 2002) should declare an 
immediate moratorium on commercial production of new nanomaterials and 
launch a transparent global process for evaluating the socio-economic, 
health and environmental implications of the technology.









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