Ministry of NanoEthics?

hlovy writes "Here's part of a blurb that promotes, Nanotechnology: Atom and Eve in the Garden of Eden," an upcoming conversation between Foresight Institute founder Eric Drexler and ETC Group head Pat Mooney: "Recent studies indicate that nanoscale materials now being commercialized pose potential hazards for human health and the environment." The "studies" were actually incomplete surveys of inconclusive toxicology reports, commissioned by ETC Group, itself. Even Greenpeace admits that no complete scientific study of the toxicity of nanomaterials has been yet been performed. Read Howard Lovy's NanoBot for commentary."

Comments

Nanotechnology Now interviews on Ethics/Safety

[Dave21212]

This one is from Jeff Harrow (formerly of "The Rapidly Changing Face of Computing" when he was at Compaq Research).

It's an interview with some interesting names including a Senator, some techies, and a bunch of Nano/NBIC people. It's free trial for the whole thing on the magazine site, but Jeff has reprinted his discussion on his site.

Oh, and I highly recommend the Harrow Report newsletter to everyone here on /. - Jeff always has interesting info and insight.

From the site:

" Nanotechnology Now" magazine recently interviewed twelve people (including myself) who are involved with the emerging world of nanotechnology. They've now published the results of the interviews in Issue 2 of their "NanoNews" newsletter. All twelve of the participants' responses are available in that publication, which you can find through http://www.nanotech-now.com/newsletter/. Issue 2 specifically is available at no cost as part of their free trial subscription.

The participants include (with partial affiliations shown here):

* Sen. George Allen, U.S. Senator (R.-Va.)
* Morten Bogedal, CEO, Nordic Nanotech
* A.S. Daar, Professor of Public Health Sciences and of Surgery, University of Toronto
* Neil Gordon, Partner, Nanotechnology, with Sygertech
* Tim Harper, Founder & President, CMP Cientifica
* Jeffrey Harrow, Principal and Technologist, The Harrow Group
* Lerwen Liu, President, ABACUS Partners
* Cathy Murphy, Guy F. Lipscomb Professor of Chemistry, Univ. of S. Carolina
* Vic Pena, Co-founder & CEO, nanoTitan Inc.
* Ottilia Saxl, Ion European Board & Founding Director, The Institute of Nanotechnology
* Bo Varga, Principal and Strategic Consultant, The Strategic Synergy Group
* Dennis Wilson, Chief Technology Officer, Chairman of the Board, and Founder, Nanotechnologies, Inc.

However, if you don't wish to register on their site, you'll find the questions plus my answers (one-twelfth of the content) below, in this "Harrow Technology Report" Special Report.

The following twelve interview questions were developed by "Nanotechnology Now" Editor Rocky Rawstern, Chris Phoenix of the Center for Responsible Nanotechnology (CRN), and Tim Harper of Cientifica. "

...continued here

Twisting!

[jarran]

Even Greenpeace admits that no complete scientific study of the toxicity of nanomaterials

Er... of course they do. In fact, even though the author is clearly trying to twist this into some sort of admission of guilt by Greenpeace, this is in fact, exactly the point they want to make.

No complete scientific study has been done, and one is needed badly. In many other areas we have found that as particles become increasinly small, they also become increasingly toxic. This may or may not be the case for nanomaterials, and we really need to find out.

It's the job of the industry to prove nanotech safe, not to say it's safe and hope no-one produces contrary evidence.

This was the mistake made by the biotech industry over GM in Europe, and the nanotech industry needs to try hard to avoid falling down the same pit. If they start to look even a bit like the pro-GM lobby by ignoring peoples concerns, they'll be tarred with exactly the same brush.

The Precautionary Principle

[gobbo]

People who are concerned about the manner in which new technologies are developed and implemented are not all reactionaries, kneeJerks, or boneheaded luddites, folks. Please just drop the "I hate those anti-technology people" rhetoric and be reasonable.

Mostly, these activists are asking that we just slow down and use the Precautionary Principle when bringing out novel technologies that have the potential to interact with the world in unforseen ways. It's really just being sensible instead of rash.

The ETC group is not just focussed on technology: "The issue of ownership and control of this all-pervasive technology is paramount." Mooney has been one of the better informed observers on this issue for 20 years.

Go ahead and promote a technology without caring about its implementation; that's like running a department store with no cash registers, just a jar by the door--it won't work.

To paraphrase Vico: our skill with invention always surpasses our understanding of ourselves.