ETC News: Global Nanotech Governance?

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ETC News: Global Nanotech Governance?

 

 

ETC Group

News Release

Wednesday, 30 June 2004

www.etcgroup.org

 

 

26 Governments Tiptoe Toward

Global Nano Governance

 

Grey-Goovernance?

 

 

On June 17-18, a first intergovernmental dialogue on " Responsible Research and

Development of Nanotechnology " convened in Washington with representatives from

26 countries. In his introductory remarks, Mike Roco of the US government's

National Science Foundation explained that the meeting was dedicated to the

examination of broad societal issues that cannot be addressed by any single

country. Roco asked: " How can we prepare our world for the emergence of

nanotechnology? " (1)

 

" The reality is that it's too late for governments to suggest they're being

pro-active. Hundreds of nanotech products are commercially available, countless

more are in the pipeline, and there are no regulations explicitly targeting

nanotechnology anywhere in the world, " said Pat Mooney, Executive Director of

ETC Group. " The US National Science Foundation now predicts that the global

'nano' market will tip $1 trillion in seven years. Why is it that governments

can look only 3-5 years ahead when they're talking about regulations and social

impacts, but when those same governments talk about potential revenues they have

a 10-20 year horizon? Remember, it takes at least 8 years to negotiate

multilateral agreements. At this point, diplomats are already way behind. "

 

The government representatives who met earlier this month are planning to

convene again, possibly before the end of 2004. Before they do they must

consider the political realities. Future intergovernmental discussions must be

inclusive, transparent and take place under the auspices of the United Nations.

A meeting of technical experts from 26 countries is not adequate to address the

interests of all countries - whether engaged in or affected by nanotech

activities. Although governments in Washington did place the problem/potential

for the global South on their agenda, only the 'Big South' (Argentina, Brazil,

China, India, Korea, Mexico and South Africa) attended.

 

" By the time governments get around to recognizing the need for a broad societal

discussion, it means they're already in the position of playing catch-up,

clean-up - or worse, cover-up, " insists Silvia Ribeiro of ETC Group's Mexico

office. " Of course we can't leave it up to governments - civil society and

people's movements must first be fully engaged in debates about the role of

science and technology in society, " said Ribeiro.

 

According to the meeting's agenda,(2) attendees tackled issues associated with

nanotech R & D in four parallel breakout groups: " the environment, " " human health

and safety, " " socio-economic and ethical issues " and " nanotechnology in

developing countries. "

 

" That's an impressive scope for a session lasting only an hour and forty-five

minutes, " notes Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group researcher. " But it's an important

first step for national governments to recognize that nanotech's global

socio-economic, health and environmental impacts must be addressed. "

 

While the June meeting included discussion of broad societal issues, many

critical areas urgently require more thorough examination and specific action.

These include:

 

* Convergence and technology cartels: Nanotechnology refers to a spectrum of new

technologies involving the manipulation of matter at the scale of atoms and

molecules - the nano-scale (a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter). The real

power of nano-scale science is the convergence of technologies that can be

integrated on the molecular playing field - including biotechnology, cognitive

sciences, informatics, robotics, etc. Control and manipulation of matter at the

nano-scale is poised to become the operative platform for corporate control of

industrial manufacturing, food, agriculture and health in the 21st century. The

world's largest companies across all industry sectors are investing in nanotech

R & D - from military, mining and manufacturing to energy and electronics, to

pharmaceuticals, food processing and chemicals. Society and governments must be

prepared to address the implications of corporate technology cartels that could

gain unprecedented control over converging

technologies and their products.

 

* The privatization of the fundamental building blocks of matter: In the US and

many OECD nations, intellectual property laws evolved rapidly over the past

quarter century to allow for the patenting of all life forms - plants, animals,

microorganisms and human DNA. With the rise of nano-scale technologies, will we

see the same kinds of sweeping patent claims on products and processes related

to molecular level manufacturing? Nanotechnology offers new opportunities for

monopoly control - not just over life forms - but over the building blocks of

the entire natural world. A recent front-page article in the Wall St. Journal

reports on the " intensifying race " to file nanotech patent applications, citing

one patent attorney who's experiencing déjà vu: " It's like biotech on steroids, "

Charles Wieland told the Wall St. Journal.(3) In the US alone, nanotech patents

awarded annually have tripled since 1996.(4) Companies like California-based

NanoSys have neither products nor profits, but with

a portfolio of over 200 nanotech patents, the company expects its initial

public offering to fetch over $500 million in stock sales.(5) The meeting in

Washington focused primarily on the need to facilitate intellectual property as

a means of promoting nanotech, rather than on preventing abuses of exclusive

monopoly patents or protecting the interests of developing nations. Governments

must monitor current trends in nanotech patents and take steps to prevent

technology " platform " monopolies.

 

* Human Rights: Even allowing for hyperbole, nanotech's impact on the global

economy will be no less than profound. Whatever the long-term potential

benefits, nanotech will bring economic turbulence - as every technology wave

does - destabilizing labour and society. Nano-scale technologies will change the

way we manufacture goods, produce food, energy and medicine. Commodity markets

will be turned upside down, threatening the poorest and most vulnerable workers

who do not have the economic flexibility to respond to a sudden demand for new

technical skills and/or different raw materials. As nanotechnology converges

with other powerful technologies such as biotechnology and information

technologies to " improve human performance " - in the words of the US government

- society must grasp what it means to be human, practically, legally and

ethically. At the same time, society will have to address an ever-widening gulf

between those " improved " through technological convergence and those who

remain " unimproved, " either by choice or lack of choice. As convergence helps

shift our concept of what is " normal, " we'll all be playing catch-up or we'll be

left behind. Whatever benefits convergence could bring, they will be neither

cheap nor equitably distributed. What will happen to the unimproved?

 

* War and defense in the age of nanotech: Experts predict that nanotechnology

will change the way wars are fought more than the invention of gunpowder.(6)

Precise and sophisticated molecular-level manipulations will produce stronger,

lighter materials, more precise and pervasive sensors and faster, smaller and

more energy-efficient computers. These products are being developed

simultaneously for civilian and military uses. DuPont, a founding partner of the

Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies in the US, predicts that some of the

materials being developed for soldiers will be available on the commercial

market first.(7) In addition to these dual-purpose products, nanotech, and its

convergence with biotech, will lead to the development of chemical and

biological weapons that are more invasive, harder to detect and virtually

impossible to combat. Convergence with cognitive sciences will produce soldiers

with " enhanced " bodies and brains. Governments must act quickly and

cooperatively

to address the new realities of nano-age warfare.

 

Moving Nano-Governance Forward: Separately and collectively, governments need to

evaluate, monitor and regulate the impact of nano-scale technologies on health

and the environment; socio-economic infrastructure; human rights (especially

marginalized people, including the disabled); defense and trade. Governments

must act now or they risk losing all credibility in their capacity to oversee

the introduction of new technologies.

 

ETC Group believes that governments should look beyond the pageant of individual

new technologies marching forward and establish a United Nations mechanism to

monitor all new technologies - an International Convention for the Evaluation of

New Technologies (ICENT).

 

 

 

For further information:

 

Pat Mooney, ETC Group (Canada) etc

Hope Shand and Kathy Jo Wetter, ETC Group (USA) hope

kjo tel: 919 960-5223

Silvia Ribeiro, ETC Group (Mexico) siliva: 52 55 55 632 664

Jim Thomas, ETC Group (UK) jim: 44 (0)7752 106806 (cell)

 

The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, formerly RAFI, is an

international civil society organization headquartered in Canada. The ETC Group

is dedicated to the advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human

rights. www.etcgroup.org. The ETC Group is also a member of the Community

Biodiversity Development and Conservation Programme (CBDC). The CBDC is a

collaborative experimental initiative involving civil society organizations and

public research institutions in 14 countries. The CBDC is dedicated to the

exploration of community-directed programmes to strengthen the conservation and

enhancement of agricultural biodiversity. The CBDC website is

www.cbdcprogram.org

 

 

Note: Over the next 12 months, ETC Group will release a series of Communiqués on

the socio-economic impacts of nanotech. Our next Communiqué will provide an

update on the growing recognition for the need to regulate the technology and

the major health and safety issues.

 

ETC Group headquarters is moving to Ottawa as of July 7, 2004:

 

ETC Group

1 Nicholas Street, Suite 200 B

Ottawa, Ontario K1N 7B7

Canada

tel: 1-613-241-2267

fax: 1-613-241-2506

Email addresses will not change.

 

 

Endnotes:

 

1 Documents related to the meeting are available on the Internet:

http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/nano/dialog.htm. ETC Group did not attend the

June 17-18 meeting.

2 In addition to the breakout sessions, participants completed questionnaires

regarding nanotechnology policy in their countries (only the US's answers to the

questionnaire have been made available to the public as of June 29.)

3 Antonio Regalado, " Nanotechnology Patents Surge as Companies Vie to Stake

Claim, " Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2004; Page A1

4 Ibid.

5 Barnaby Feder, " Going Public Without Profits or a Product? Yes, in 2004, " New

York Times, May 24, 2004. See also, Antonio Regalado, " Nanotechnology Patents

Surge as Companies Vie to Stake Claim, " Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2004; Page

A1

6 Clifford Lau of the US Defense Department to Barnaby Feder, " Frontier of

Military Technology is the Size of a Molecule, " New York Times, April 8, 2003,

p. C2.

7 On the Internet:

http://www1.dupont.com/NASApp/dupontglobal/corp/index.jsp?page=/content/US/en_US\

/news/releases/2003/nr05_22_03a.html