Green Goo: Nanotechnology Comes Alive!

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http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=373

 

Green Goo: Nanotechnology Comes Alive!Type: Communique

January 23, 2003

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ETC Group Communiqué

Green Goo: Nanobiotechnology Comes Alive!

January/February 2003 Issue 77

www.etcgroup.org

 

Issue: If the word registers in the public consciousness at all,

" nanotechnology " conjures up visions of itty-bitty mechanical robots building

BMWs, burgers or brick walls. For a few, nanotech inspires fear that invisible

nanobots will go haywire and multiply uncontrollably until they suffocate the

planet – a scenario known as " Gray Goo. " Still others, recalling Orwell’s 1984,

see nanotech as the path to Big Brother’s military-industrial dominance, a kind

of " gray governance. " Gray Goo or gray governance – both are plausible outcomes

of nanotechnology – the manipulation of matter at the scale of the nanometer

(one billionth of a meter) – but possibly diversionary images of our

techno-future.

 

The first and greatest impact of nano-scale technologies may come with the

merger of nanotech and biotech – a newly recognized discipline called

nanobiotechnology. While Gray Goo has grabbed the headlines, self-replicating

nanobots are not yet possible. The more likely future scenario is that the

merger of living and non-living matter will result in hybrid organisms and

products that end up behaving in unpredictable and uncontrollable ways – get

ready for " Green Goo! "

 

Impact: Roughly one-fifth (21%) of nanotech businesses in the USA are currently

focusing on nanobiotechnology for the development of pharmaceutical products,

drug delivery systems and other healthcare-related products.1. The US National

Science Foundation predicts that the market for nano-scale products will reach

$1 trillion per annum by 2015. As with biotech before it, nanotech is also

expected to have a major impact on food and agriculture.

 

Policies: No single intergovernmental body is charged with monitoring and

regulating nanotechnology. There are no internationally accepted scientific

standards governing laboratory research or the introduction of nano-scale

products or materials. Some national governments (Germany and the USA, for

example) are beginning to consider some aspects of nanotechnology regulation but

no government is giving full consideration to the socioeconomic, environmental

and health implications of this new industrial revolution.

 

Fora: Informed international debate and assessment is urgently needed.

Initiatives include: FAO's specialist committees should discuss the implications

of nanotechnology for food and agriculture when they convene in Rome in March

2003. The Commission on Sustainable Development should review the work of FAO

and consider additional initiatives during its New York session, April 28-May 9,

2003. The World Health Assembly, the governing body of the World Health

Organization, should address health implications of nanotechnology when it meets

in Geneva in May 2003. Ultimately, governments must begin negotiations to

develop a legally binding International Convention for the Evaluation of New

Technologies (ICENT).

 

Introduction: Nanotech+Biotech

 

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double-helix – the

structure of the DNA molecule and the catalyst for the biotechnology revolution.

Also in the 1950s, physicist Richard Feynman theorized that it would be possible

to work " at the bottom " – to manipulate atoms and molecules in a controlled and

precise way. Today, our capacity to manipulate matter is moving from genes to

atoms. Nanotechnology refers to the manipulation of atoms and molecules to

create new products. ETC Group prefers the term " Atomtechnology, " not only

because it is more descriptive, but also because nanotechnology implies that the

manipulation of matter will stop at the level of atoms and molecules – measured

in nanometers. Atomtech refers to a spectrum of new technologies that operate at

the nano-scale and below – that is, the manipulation of atoms, molecules and

sub-atomic particles to create new products.

 

At the nano-scale, where objects are measured in billionths of meters, the

distinction between living and non-living blurs. DNA is just another molecule,

composed of atoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorous –

chemical elements of the Periodic Table – that are bonded in a particular way

and can be artificially synthesized.2. The raw materials for Atomtechnology are

the chemical elements of the Periodic Table, the building blocks of all matter.

Working at the nano-scale, scientists seek to control the elements of the

Periodic Table in the way that a painter controls a palette of pigments. The

goal is to create new materials and modify existing ones.

 

Size can change everything. At the nano-scale, the behavior of individual atoms

is governed by quantum physics. Although the chemical composition of materials

remains unchanged, nano-scale particles often exhibit very different and

unexpected properties. Fundamental manufacturing characteristics such as colour,

strength, electrical conductivity, melting point – the properties that we

usually consider constant for a given material – can all change at the

nano-scale.

 

Taking advantage of quantum physics, nanotech companies are engineering novel

materials that may have entirely new properties never before identified in

nature. Today, an estimated 140 companies are producing nanoparticles in

powders, sprays and coatings to manufacture products such as scratchproof

eyeglasses, crack-resistant paints, transparent sunscreens, stain-repellant

fabrics, self-cleaning windows and more. The world market for nanoparticles is

projected to rise 13% per annum, exceeding US$900 million in 2005.3.

 

But designer nanoparticles are only the beginning. Some nano-enthusiasts look

eagerly to a future when " nanobots " (nano-scale robots) become the world’s

workhorses. " Molecular nanotechnology " or " molecular manufacture " refers to a

future stage of nanotechnology involving atom-by-atom construction to build

macro-scale products. The idea is that armies of invisible, self-replicating

nanobots (sometimes called assemblers and replicators) could build everything –

from hamburgers to bicycles to buildings. A lively debate revolves around the

extent to which molecular manufacturing will be possible – but scientists are

already taking steps in that direction.4.

 

Gray Goo:

 

Gray Goo refers to the obliteration of life that could result from the

accidental and uncontrollable spread of self-replicating nanobots. The term was

coined by K. Eric Drexler in the mid-1980s. Bill Joy, Chief Scientist at Sun

MicroSystems, took Drexler’s apocalyptic vision of nanotechnology run amok to a

wider public.5.

 

Drexler provides a vivid example of how quickly Gray Goo could devastate the

planet, beginning with one rogue replicator. " If the first replicator could

assemble a copy of itself in one thousand seconds, the two replicators could

then build two more in the next thousand seconds, the four build another four,

and the eight build another eight. At the end of ten hours, there are not

thirty-six new replicators, but over 68 billion. In less than a day, they would

weigh a ton; in less than two days, they would outweigh the Earth; in another

four hours, they would exceed the mass of the Sun and all the planets

combined. " 6.

 

To avoid a Gray Goo apocalypse, Drexler and his Foresight Institute, a

non-profit organization whose purpose is to prepare society for the era of

molecular nanotechnology (MNT), have established guidelines for developing

" safe " MNT devices. Foresight recommends that nano-devices be constructed in

such a way that they are dependent on " a single artificial fuel source or

artificial ‘vitamins’ that doesn’t exist in any natural environment. " 7.

Foresight also suggests that scientists program " terminator " dates into their

atomic creations…and update their computer virus-protection software regularly?

 

Most nanotech industry representatives have dismissed the possibility of

self-replicating nanobots and pooh-pooh the Gray Goo theory. The few who do talk

about the need for regulation believe that the benefits of nanotech outweigh the

risks and call for industry self-regulation.8.

 

The Gray Goo theory is plausible, but are mechanical, self-replicating nanobots

really the road the nanotech industry will travel?

 

Buccolic Biotech: The biotech industry provides an important history lesson.

Back in the early days, biotech enthusiasts promised durable disease resistance

in plants, drought tolerance and self-fertilizing crops. But when the agbiotech

companies marketed their first commercial genetically modified (GM) products in

the mid 1990s, farmers were sold herbicide-tolerant plant varieties – GM seeds

able to survive a toxic shower of corporate chemicals. The agrochemical industry

recognized that it is easier and cheaper to adapt plants to chemicals than to

adapt chemicals to plants. By contrast, the money involved in getting a new

chemical through the regulatory maze runs into the hundreds of millions.

 

More recently, the biotech industry has figured out that GM crops could be

cheaper, more efficient " living factories " for producing therapeutic proteins,

vaccines and plastics than building costly manufacturing facilities. Companies

are already testing " pharma crops " at hundreds of secret, experimental sites in

the United States. While pharma crops may be cheaper and more efficient,

industry is plagued by a persistent problem: living modified organisms are

difficult to contain or control. Most recently, Texas-based biotech company

ProdiGene was fined $250,000 in December 2002 when the US Department of

Agriculture discovered that stalks of the company’s pharma corn, engineered to

produce a pig vaccine, had contaminated 500,000 bushels of soybeans.9.

 

Atom & Eve in the Garden of Green Goo?

 

Atom & Eve: The nanotech industry seems to be following the biotech industry’s

strategy. Why construct self-replicating mechanical robots (by any standards an

extraordinarily difficult task) when self-replicating materials are cheaply

available all around? Why not replace machines with life instead of the other

way around? Nanotech researchers are increasingly turning to the biomolecular

world for both inspiration and raw materials. Nature’s machinery may ultimately

provide the avenue for atomic construction technology, precisely because living

organisms are already capable of self-assembly and because they are ready-made,

self-replicating machines. This is nanobiotechnolgy – manipulations at the

nano-scale that seek to bring Atom (nano) & Eve (bio) together, to allow

non-living matter and living matter to become compatible and in some cases

interchangeable. But will the nanobiotech industry find itself battling

out-of-control bio-nanobots in the same way that the biotech industry has come

up against leaky genes? Will today’s genetic pollution become tomorrow’s " Green

Goo? "

 

" The question now is not whether it is possible to produce hybrid

living/nonliving devices but what is the best strategy for accelerating its

development. " – Carlo D. Montemagno 10.

 

Mergers and Acquisitions: When the living and non-living nano-realms merge in

nanobiotechnology, it will happen on a two-way street. Biological material will

be extracted and manipulated to perform machine functions and to make possible

hybrid biological/nonbiological materials. Just as we used animal products in

our early machines (e.g., leather straps or sheep stomachs), we will now adopt

bits of viruses and bacteria into our nanomachines. Conversely, non-biological

material will be used within living organisms to perform biological functions.

Reconfiguring life to work in the service of machines (or as machines) makes

economic and technological sense. " Life, " after all, " is cheap " and, at the

level of atoms and molecules, it doesn’t look all that different from non-life.

At the nano-scale, writes Alexandra Stikeman in Technology Review, " the

distinction between biological and nonbiological materials often blurs. " 11. The

concepts of living and non-living are equally difficult to differentiate in the

nanoworld.

 

Researchers are hoping to blend the best of both worlds by exploiting the

material compatibility of atoms and molecules at the nano-scale. They seek to

combine the capabilities of nonbiological material (such as electrical

conductivity, for example) with the capabilities of certain kinds of biological

material (self-assembly, self-repair and adaptability, for example).12. At the

macro-scale, researchers are already harnessing biological organisms for

miniaturized industrial functions. For example, researchers at Tokyo University

are remote-controlling cockroaches that have been surgically implanted with

microchips. The goal is to use the insects for surveillance or to search for

disaster victims. Recent examples of nanobiotechnology include:

 

Hybrid Materials: Scientists are developing self-cleaning plastics with

built-in enzymes that are designed to attack dirt on contact.13. In the same

vein, researchers are considering the prospect of an airplane wing fortified

with carbon nanotubes stuffed with proteins. (Nanotubes are molecules of pure

carbon that are 100 times stronger than steel and six times lighter.) If the

airplane wing cracks (and the tubes along with it), the theory goes, fractured

nanotubes would release the proteins, which will act as an adhesive – repairing

the cracked wing and protracting its life span. Other scientists, using DNA as

" scaffolding " to assemble conductive nonbiological materials for the development

of ultrafast computer circuitry, are pioneering a new field of

bioelectronics.14.

 

Should we be thinking about the General Motors assembly line or the interior of

a cell of E. coli? – George M. Whitesides, Harvard University chemist 15.

 

Proteins Working Overtime: Proteins, the smallest class of biological

machines, are proving to be flexible enough to participate in all kinds of

extracurricular activities. A team of researchers at Rice University has been

experimenting with F-actin, a protein resembling a long, thin fiber, which

provides a cell’s structural support and controls its shape and movement.16.

Proteins like F-actin allow the transportation of electricity along their

length. The researchers hope these proteins can one day be used as biosensors –

acting like electrically conductive nanowires. Protein nanowires could replace

silicon nanowires, which have been used as biosensors but are more expensive to

make and would seem to have a greater environmental impact than protein

nanowires.

Cell Power! A more complex working nanomachine with a biological engine has

already been built by Carlo Montemagno (now at the University of California at

Los Angeles). Montemagno’s team extracted a rotary motor protein from a

bacterial cell and connected it to a " nanopropeller " – a metallic cylinder 750

nm long and 150 nm wide. The biomolecular motor was powered by the bacteria’s

adenosine triphosphate (known as ATP – the source of chemical energy in cells)

and was able to rotate the nanopropeller at an average speed of eight

revolutions per second.17. In October 2002, the team of researchers announced

that by adding a chemical group to the protein motor, they have been able to

switch the nanomachine on and off at will.18.

Molecular Carpentry: The motto of NanoFrames, a self-classified

" biotechnology " company based in Boston, is " Harnessing nature to transform

matter. " 19. That motto is also a concise description of how Atom & Eve works.

NanoFrames uses protein " subunits " to serve as basic building blocks (derived

from the tail fibers of a common virus called Bacteriophage T4). These subunits

are joined to each other or to other materials by means of self-assembly to

produce larger structures. NanoFrames calls their method of manufacture

" biomimetic carpentry, " but that label, while wonderfully figurative, comes up

short. Using protein building blocks to take advantage of their ability to

self-assemble is more than imitating the biological realm (mimesis is Greek and

means imitation). It’s not just turning to biology for design inspiration – it

is transforming biology into an industrial labor force.

DNA Motors: Using a different kind of module – DNA – but similar logic,

scientists are creating other kinds of complex devices from simple structures.

In August 2000, researchers at Bell Labs (the R & D branch of Lucent Technologies)

announced that they, along with scientists from the University of Oxford, had

created the first DNA motors.20. Taking advantage of the way pieces of DNA will

lock together in only one particular way and their ability to self-assemble,

researchers created a device resembling tweezers from two DNA strands. The

tweezers remain open until " fuel " is added, which closes the tweezers. The fuel

is simply another strand of DNA of a different sequence that allows it to latch

on to the device and close it. Physicist Bernard Yurke of Bell Labs sees the DNA

motor leading to " a test-tube technology that assembles complex structures, such

as electronic circuits, through the orderly addition of molecules. " 21.

Living Plastic: Materials science researchers around the world are trying to

perfect the manufacture of new kinds of plastics, produced by biosynthesis

instead of chemical synthesis: the new materials are " grown " by bacteria rather

than mixed in beakers by chemists in labs. These materials have advantages over

chemically synthesized polymers because they are biocompatible and may be used

in medical applications. Further, they may lead to the development of plastics

from non-petrochemical sources, possibly revolutionizing a major multinational

industry.22. In one example, E. coli was genetically engineered – three genes

from two different bacteria were introduced into the E. coli– so that it was

able to produce an enzyme that made possible the polymerization reaction. In

other words, a common bacteria, E. coli, was genetically manipulated so that it

could serve as a plastics factory.23.

 

Merging the living and non-living realms in the other direction – that is,

incorporating non-living matter into living organisms to perform biological

functions – is more familiar to us (e.g., pacemakers, artificial joints), but

presents particular challenges at the nano-scale. Because nanomaterials are, in

most cases, foreign to biology, they must be manipulated to make them

biocompatible, to make them behave properly in their new environment.

 

Olympic Nano: Researcher Robert Freitas is developing an artificial red blood

cell that is able to deliver 236 times more oxygen to tissues than natural red

blood cells.24. The artificial cell, called a " respirocyte, " measures one micron

(1000 nanometers) in diameter and has a nanocomputer on board, which can be

reprogrammed remotely via external acoustic signals. Freitas predicts his device

will be used to treat anemia and lung disorders, but may also enhance human

performance in the physically demanding arenas of sport and warfare. Freitas

states that the effectiveness of the artificial cells will critically depend on

their " mechanical reliability in the face of unusual environmental challenges "

and on their biocompatibility. Among the risks, considered rare but real,

Freitas lists overheating, explosion and " loss of physical integrity. "

Remote Control DNA: Researchers at MIT, led by physicist Joseph Jacobson and

biomedical engineer Shuguang Zhang, have developed a way to control the behavior

of individual molecules in a crowd of molecules.25. They affixed gold

nanoparticles (1.4 nm in diameter) to certain strands of DNA. When the

gold-plated DNA is exposed to a magnetic field, the strands break apart; when

the magnetic field is removed, the strands re-form immediately: the researchers

have effectively developed a switch that will allow them to turn genes on and

off. The goal is to speed up drug development, allowing pharmaceutical

researchers to simulate the effects of a drug that also turns certain genes on

or off. The MIT lab has recently licensed the technology to a biotech startup,

engeneOS, which intends to " evolve detection and measurement in vitro into

monitoring and manipulation at the molecular scale in cells and in vivo. " 26. In

other words, they intend to move these biodevices out of the test tube and into

living bodies.

 

 

 

Nanobiotechnology: What are the Implications?

 

Green Goo: Human-made nanomachines that are powered by materials taken from

living cells are a reality today. It won’t be long before more and more of the

cells’ working parts are drafted into the service of human-made nanomachines. As

the merging of living-nano and non-living nano becomes more common, the idea of

self-replicating nanomachines seems less and less like a " futurist’s daydream. "

In his dismissal of the possibility of molecular manufacture, Harvard University

chemist George Whitesides states that " it would be a staggering accomplishment

to mimic the simplest living cell. " 27. But we may not have to " reinvent the

wheel " before human-made molecular creations are possible; we can just borrow

it. Whitesides believes the most dangerous threat to the environment is not Gray

Goo, but " self-catalyzing reactions, " that is, chemical reactions that speed up

and take place on their own, without the input of a chemist in a lab.28. It is

here – where natural nanomachines merge with mechanical nanomachines – that the

Green Goo theory resonates strongest. The biotech industry has been unable to

control or contain the unwanted escape of genetically modified organisms. Will

the nanotech industry be better able to control atomically modified organisms?

Nanobiotechnology will create both living and non-living hybrids previously

unknown on earth. Will a newly-manufactured virus retrofitted with nano-hardware

evolve and become problematic? The environmental and health implications of such

new creations are unknown.

 

Six Degrees of Humanity: Can societies that have not yet come to grips with the

nature of being human soldier on to construct partially-human, semi-human or

super-human cyborgs?

 

Natural Born Killers: As the merging of living cells and human-made nanomachines

develops, so will the sophistication of biological and chemical weaponry. These

bio-mechanical hybrids will be more invasive, harder to detect and virtually

impossible to combat.

 

Gray Governance: A 1999 study by Ernst & Young predicted that by 2010, there

will be 10,000 connected microsensors for every person on the planet.29.

Nanosensors will undoubtedly surpass these numbers. What happens when

super-smart machines and unlimited surveillance capacity get in the hands of

police or military or governing elites? These technologies will pose a major

threat to democracy and dissent and fundamental human rights. The powerfully

invasive and literally invisible qualities of nano-scale sensors and devices

become, in the wrong hands, extremely powerful tools for repression.

 

[text box] Wanted: A Molecular Recipe for Manufacturing Life

 

In November 2002, the outspoken gene scientist J. Craig Venter and Nobel

Laureate Hamilton Smith announced that they were recipients of a $3 million

grant from the US Energy Department to create a new, " minimalist " life form in

the laboratory – a single-celled, partially human-made organism.30. The goal is

to learn how few genes are needed for the simplest bacterium to survive and

reproduce. " We are wondering if we can come up with a molecular definition of

life, " Venter told the Washington Post. 31.

 

The researchers will begin with Mycoplasma genitalium, a simple microbe that

lives in the genital tracts of people. After removing all genetic material from

the organism, the researchers will synthesize an artificial chromosome and

insert it into the " empty " cell. The longer-term goal is to manufacture a

designer bacterium that will perform human-directed functions, such as a microbe

that can absorb and store carbon dioxide from power plant emissions.

 

In essence, the mixing and matching of basic chemicals – synthesizing DNA to

create a brand-new life form – is a grand experiment in nanobiotechnology. Will

it also bring us Green Goo?

 

There are concerns that a partially human-made organism will provide the

scientific groundwork for a new generation of biological weapons. Ironically,

Venter abandoned his earlier quest to construct the world’s first simple

artificial life form in 1999 because he believed that the risk of creating a

template for new biological weaponry was too great.32. This time, Venter

asserts, " We may not disclose all the details that would teach somebody else how

to do this. " 33.

 

Toward a Double-Green Goo Revolution?

 

Not for the first time, some scientists are predicting a " double-green "

revolution. This time they say that nanotech will both improve the environment

and contribute to human well-being – especially in the sectors of food and

pharmaceuticals. (Civil society organizations with a history in biotech will

experience an immediate déjà vu when they hear these claims.)

 

Slow Food Movement: Merging nanotech with biotech has enormous implications for

food, agriculture and medicine. Some scientists dream of a world in which

nanotech will allow our foods to assemble themselves from basic elements to

become the entrée of the day.34. No need to waste time planting and harvesting

crops or fattening up livestock. No need for land – or farmers – at all. Just

slip a polymer plate in the nanowave and out pops the family feast. It is, of

course, theoretically possible to build a Big Mac or a Mac Apple or even the Big

Apple atom-by-atom. But, at the current rate of construction, dinner would be

late. In fact, nano food construction would bring a whole new dimension to the

Slow Food Movement. Dinner won’t be ready until sometime after hell freezes

over!

 

But if nanobiotechnology can't mash the potatoes just yet, there is still a

great deal that these two converging technologies can accomplish within the life

sciences…

 

Green Goo Giants: Although not always defined as nanotechnology, the Gene Giants

and multinational food processors are either tracking nanotech or are actively

engaged in developing the technologies. In a fall 2000 interview, Monsanto's

then-CEO, Robert Shapiro, commented on the most promising emerging technologies,

" …there are three, although I have a feeling that, under some future unified

theory, they will turn out to be just one. The first is, of course, information

technology… The second is biotechnology… And the third is nanotechnology. " 35.

 

Jozef Kokini, Director of Rutgers' Center for Advanced Food Technology,

summarizes agribusiness’s interest in nano-scale technologies, " In our opinion,

this is one technology that will have profound implications for the food

industry, even though they're not very clear to a lot of people. " 36.

 

 

 

Special " K " : Kraft Foods may be more clear-sighted. In 1999, the $34 billion

Philip-Morris subsidiary established the industry’s first nanotechnology food

laboratory. In 2000, Kraft launched the NanoteK consortium, enveloping fifteen

universities and public research labs, bent on basic research in food

technology.37. NanoteK is a heady broth of molecular chemists, engineers and

physicists. Consortium participants include Harvard, Connecticut, and Nebraska

universities, Chicago-based Argonne laboratories and the Los Alamos Lab famed

for their role in developing America’s nuclear capacity. But NanoteK is not a US

preserve. Much of the intellectual might comes from the Spanish universities of

Seville and Málaga and from Uppsala University in Sweden. The venture may

already be bearing fruit.

 

Smart Drinks: Kraft's first nano consumable may be a nano-capsule beverage.38.

Nanoparticles will encapsulate specific flavors, colours or nutritional elements

that can be activated by zapping the solution with the appropriate radio

frequency. Grocery stores and vending machines would sell a colourless,

tasteless bottled fluid that customers could take home, zap, and transform into

their beverage of choice. Microwave frequencies would activate the selected

nano-capsules, effectively turning water into wine – or coffee – or single-malt

scotch. Since the same mechanism could be used to release highly-concentrated

drugs, the same bottled fluid might offer the Alka-Seltzer chasers for the

scotch. Smart hangovers!

 

Smart Foods: Another innovation showing commercial potential is the addition of

colour changing agents on food (or packaging), to alert the processor or the

consumer to unsafe food.39. Using " electronic tongue " technology, sensors that

can detect chemicals at parts per trillion, the industry hopes to develop meat

packaging that would change colour in the presence of harmful pathogens.40. Food

poisoning is already a major health risk and product recalls cause giant

headaches for industry. Given the heightened concerns over bioterrorism, this is

a nano-product with enormous commercial potential.

 

Out-of-Sight, Out-of-Mind?

 

Ready or not, nanotech is on its way. While much of the world has been

mesmerized by G3 mobile phones and GM foods, the nanotech revolution is evolving

quietly beneath the radar screen of government regulators and below the trip

wires of life itself.

 

Because nano-scale technologies can be applied to virtually every industrial

sector, no regulatory body is taking the lead. And because many of its products

are nano-sized versions of conventional compounds, regulatory scrutiny has been

deemed unnecessary. So far, nano-scale technologies are out-of-sight and

out-of-mind for most politicians, regulators and the public.

 

The hard questions have not been asked. Basic questions like what mischief can

nanoparticles create floating around in our ecosystem, our food supply and in

our bodies? What happens when human-made nanoparticles are small enough to slip

past our immune systems and enter living cells? What might be the socioeconomic

impacts of this new industrial revolution? Who will control it? Shouldn’t

governments apply the Precautionary Principle? What if self-replicating nanobots

– whether mechanical or biological or hybrids – multiply uncontrollably?

 

The world’s most powerful emerging technology, Atomtechnology is developing in

an almost-total political and regulatory vacuum. Even following ETC Group's July

report warning that new nano-scale particles could pose a significant

environmental and health issue – and advising further that no regulatory

mechanisms exist covering nanotech research, neither governments nor industry

have moved seriously to address these issues.41. Meetings held by the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency with the U.S. National Science Foundation this

past August have not led to calls for broad public discourse or regulation. Such

failures threaten democracy and fuel fears of environmental harm and gray

governance control over nano-scale technologies. Civil society organizations are

beginning to embrace nano-scale technologies as an issue that must be addressed.

 

At the international level, ETC Group believes that intergovernmental bodies

should begin an evaluation of the societal impacts of nano-scale technologies

immediately. Eight specific initiatives should lead to an informed international

debate at the UN General Assembly.

 

Researchers should immediately volunteer – or governments should impose – a

moratorium on new nanoparticle laboratory research until agreement can be

reached, within the scientific community, on appropriate safety protocols for

this research. Draft protocols should be available for public and governmental

consideration as soon as possible;

The agricultural and food implications of Atomtechnology and

nanobiotechnology should be discussed by the FAO committee on agriculture at its

next meeting in March, 2003 in Rome;

The health considerations related to Atomtechnology and nanobiotechnology

should be discussed by the WHO’s World Health Assembly when it convenes in

Geneva in May, 2003;

The Commission of the European Union should bring forth a directive to

properly address the social and environmental risks of nanotechnology, based on

the precautionary principle;

The International Labor Organization (ILO) should evaluate the socioeconomic

impact of new nanotechnologies during the next meeting of its governing body;

The technology division of the United Nations’ Conference on Trade and

Development (UNCTAD) should undertake an immediate evaluation of the trade and

development implications/opportunities of Atomtechnology for developing

countries;

At its upcoming session in New York beginning the end of April, the UN

Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) should address the societal

implications of nano-scale technologies;

Based on the recommendations of the specialized agencies of the United

Nations and the CSD, the UN General Assembly should launch the process of

developing a legally binding International Convention on the Evaluation of New

Technologies (ICENT).

 

 

 

ENDNOTES

 

1. The NanoBusiness Alliance, " 2001 Business of Nanotechnology Survey, " p. 12.

 

2. The Periodic Table is a list of all known chemical elements, approximately

115 at present.

 

3. Business Wire Inc., " Altair Nanotechnologies Awarded Patent for its

Nano-sized Titanium Dioxide, " September 4, 2002. The estimate is based on market

research conducted by Business Communications Co., Inc.

 

4. For example, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have

developed NanoWalkers — three-legged robots the size of a thumb. NanoWalkers are

micro-robots, not nano-scale, but they are equipped with computers and atomic

force microscopes that allow them to assemble structures on the molecular scale.

For more information, see: ETC Group News Release, " Nanotech Takes a Giant Step

Down! " March 6, 2002. Available on the Internet: www.etcgroup.org

 

5. Bill Joy, " Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us, Wired, April, 2000.

 

6. K. Eric Drexler, Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology,

originally published by Anchor Books, 1986, from the PDF available on the

Internet: www.foresight.org, p. 216.

 

7. The Foresight Institute’s Guidelines for Nanotech Development are available

on the Internet: www.foresight.org/guidelines/current.html.

 

8. For example, the Pacific Research Institute, promoters of " individual liberty

through free markets, " released a study in November 2002 that calls for " a

regime of modest regulation, civilian research and an emphasis on

self-regulation and responsible, professional culture. " For more information,

see: http://www.pacificresearch.org/press/rel/2002/pr_02-11-20.html The Center

for Responsible Nanotechnology, (CRN), also an avid proponent of nanotechnology,

is a new organization that conducts research and education about molecular

nanotechnology. CRN believes that advanced, self-replicating nanotechnology is

so powerful and dangerous that it could " raise the specter of catastrophic

misuse including gray goo. " But CRN believes molecular nanotechnology is

inevitable and can be used safely. According to CRN, " Well-informed policy must

be set, and administrative institutions carefully designed and established,

before molecular manufacturing is developed. " CRN was co-founded by Chris

Phoenix, a senior associate at the Foresight Institute, and Mark Treder,

Treasurer of the World Transhumanism Association. The website of the Center for

Responsible Nanotechnology is: http://responsiblenanotechnology.org/links.htm

 

9. Justin Gillis, " Drug-Making Crops' Potential Hindered by Fear of Tainted

Food, " Washington Post, December 23, 2002, p. A1.

 

10. Carlo Montemagno, " Nanomachines: A Roadmap for realizing the vision, "

Journal of Nanoparticle Research 3, 2001, p. 3.

 

11. Alexandra Stikeman, " Nano Biomaterials: New Combinations provide the best of

both worlds, " Technology Review, MIT, November 2002, p. 35.

 

12.Ibid.

 

13. Ibid.

 

14. Ibid.

 

15. George M. Whitesides, " The Once and Future Nanomachine, " Scientific

American, September 2001, p. 79.

 

16. http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~cben/ProteinNanowires.shtml.

 

17. George M. Whitesides and J. Christopher Love, " The Art of Building Small, "

Scientific American, September 2001, p. 47. The Scientific American article

incorrectly stated that the propeller revolved eight times per minute. See

Montemagno et al., " Powering an Inorganic Nanodevice with a Biomolecular Motor, "

Science, vol. 290, 24 November 2000, pp. 1555-1557; available on the Internet:

www.sciencemag.org.

 

18. Philip Ball, " Switch turns microscopic motor on and off, " Nature on-line

science update, October 30, 2002; available on the Internet: www.nature.com

 

19. www.nanoframes.com

 

20. Bell Labs News Release, available on the Internet:

www.bell-labs.com/news/2000

 

21. Ibid.

 

22. A. Steinbüchel et al., " Biosynthesis of novel thermoplastic polythioesters

by engineered Escherichia coli, " Nature Materials, vol. 1 no.4, December 2002,

pp. 236-240.

 

23. Yoshiharu Doi, " Unnatural biopolymers, " Nature Materials, vol. 1 no. 4,

December 2002, p. 207.

 

24. Robert A. Freitas, " A Mechanical Artificial Red Cell: Exploratory Design in

Medical Nanotechnology; " available on the Internet:

http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/Respirocytes.html.

 

25. Alexandra Stikeman, " Nanobiotech Makes the Diagnosis, " Technology Review,

May 2002, p. 66.

 

26. engeneOS web site, http://www.engeneos.com/comfocus/index.asp.

 

27. George Whitesides, " The Once and Future Nanomachine, " Scientific American,

September 2001, p. 83.

 

28. Ibid.

 

29. Jack Mason, " Enter the Mesh: How Small Tech and Pervasive Computing will

Weave a New World, " Small Times, July 11, 2002. Available on the Internet:

www.smalltimes.com

 

30. Justin Gillis, " Scientists Planning to Make New Form of Life, " Washington

Post, November 21, 2002, p. A1.

 

31. Ibid.

 

32. P. Cohen, " A terrifying power, " New Scientist, January 30,1999, p. 10.

 

33. Justin Gillis, Washington Post, November 21, 2002, p. A1.

 

34. See abstract from paper presented at the Institute of Food Technologists

annual meeting, 2002. J. L. Kokini and C. I. Moraru, Food Science Department,

Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ " Nanotechnology: A New Frontier in Food

Science and Technology. "

 

35. Anonymous, " The biology of invention: A conversation with Stuart Kauffman

and Robert Shapiro, " Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation,

no. 4, Fall 2000, available on the Internet:

www.cbi.cgey.com/journal/issue4/features/biology

 

36. As quoted in Elizabeth Gardner, " Brainy Food: academia, industry sink their

teeth into edible nano, " Small Times, June 21, 2002. Available on the Internet:

www.smalltimes.com

 

37. Ibid.

 

38. Charles Choi, " Liquid-coated fluids for smart drugs, " United Press

International, February 28, 2002.

 

39. US Patent Application # 20020034475 entitled " Ingestibles Possessing

Intrinsic Color Change. "

 

40. Elizabeth Gardner, " Brainy Food: academia, industry sink their teeth into

edible nano, " Small Times, June 21, 2002.

 

41. ETC Group, " No Small Matter: Nanotech Particles Penetrate Living Cells and

Accumulate in Animal Organs, " ETC Communiqué, No. 76, May/June, 2002.

 

 

 

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